Irritated by the ruckus, Covey finally gave in, turned to the man, and asked him to control the children. “I guess I should do something about it,” replied the man, grimly. “We just came from the hospital where their mother died about an hour ago. I don’t know what to think, and I guess they don’t know how to handle it either.”
Covey, while well-meaning, had committed the fundamental attribution error (FAE): our tendency to “overestimate the importance of personality, and underestimate that of context, when explaining behavior.” [2] In other words, it wasn’t that the man was disinterested, but rather, he was distracted, given his wife’s recent passing.
We’re all guilty of the FAE from time to time. And if you’re currently working from home, as many people are, you might have committed it yourself.
For instance, if a colleague doesn’t reply to an email, you might have misread their absence for annoyance. Or, if your manager is quiet on a video call, you might attribute his behavior to dissatisfaction with your performance rather than what it really is: busyness. [3]
If, then, you’re the type of person that’s sensitive to others’ behaviors, consider the external factors before reacting. People’s behavior is rarely a reflection of their character. Oftentimes, context is everything.
Footnotes
[1] The 7 Habits of Highly-Effective People by Stephen Covey.
[2] The Choice Factory: 25 Behavioral Biases that Influence What We Buy by Richard Shotton.
[3] James Clear’s adaptation of Hanlon’s Razor, an aphorism that assists with overcoming the FAE, nicely compliments my closing remark: “Never attribute to negative intentions that which can be explained by busyness.” (Source: Twitter.)
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