Fundamental Attribution Error
Apr. 4th, 2006 05:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tabular_rasaIt really makes me angry when people act like someone's at fault when it's a non-faulted misunderstanding. It really makes me even more the angry when they get all passive-aggressive about it, and try to take the blame for themselves, therefore making the one who's not taking the blame out to be the evil, victimizing bad guy.
. . . and I'm not just talking about one case, either, Tiffany, if you're going to take that as some sort of attack. Certainly, our fight just now brought it up (and your entry still stands as passive-aggressive proof to anyone who wants to read it), but I've had problems with this-- and amongst many people-- for a while.
The sad thing is, I know I've done the same myself, but out of necessity, because many people just can't fathom the idea of a situation being at fault; somebody has to take the blame. We talked about in Psychology yesterday how the dominant tendency in Western cultures is to attribute things to people themselves-- their personalities, their motives, etc-- rather than the situation at hand. He is a nervous person, that's why he is shaking at this interview rather than The interview is about his sexual fantasies, that's why he is shaking at this interview. The same type of bias is what causes this dichotomy, too, I'm sure; we can't just accept that sometimes things happen beyond all rational actors' control. Situations can cause as much havoc as people, if not more so.
You know, I was really going to get some work done, today, too, before going off to Center Court. I was going to start writing my Research Paper. That went down the fucking tubes pretty damn fast.
W H O . W A S . T H E. L A S T. P E R S O N
1. You hung out with?: Does lunch today count? Lisa, Patricia, Keith, Henry, and one of Patricia's Pre-Frosh.
2. Rode in a car with?: Peter (driving), Rick, Stewart, and Laura.
3. Went to the movies with?: Tiffany, Lisa, Patricia, Linda, Henry, and Keith.
4. You went to the mall with?: Probably Lisa.
5. You went to dinner with?: Heh, does Center Court count? Lol . . . the same crowd as always . . .
6. You talked on the phone to?: Tiffany.
7. Made you laugh?: Carol.
W O U L D . Y O U . R A T H E R?
1. Pierce your nose or tongue?: Nose.
2. Be serious or be funny?: I'd like both, probably serious. You can't get much accomplished only being funny.
3. Drink whole or skim milk?: Skim milk.
4. Die in a fire or drown?: Drown.
5. Spend time with your parents or enemies?: Parents. I also don't have enemies, as far as I can tell.
D O . Y O U . P R E F E R.
1. Flowers or candy?: Candy. You can't eat flowers :-P Though, maybe candy would just be a temptation, lol . . .
2. Gray or black?: Black.
3. Color or Black and white photos? It really depends on the subject and/or purpose.
4. Lust or love? Love. Who wants just lust? Honestly . . .
5. Sunrise or sunset?: Sunset.
6. M&Ms or Skittles?: M&Ms.
7. Staying up late or waking up early?: Staying up late. Though waking up early has always been traditionally better for me. I suppose I'll get back to it, when I'm older. Right now, though, there's no point to waking up early; no one else is up, and you're just alone in the dark for several hours. SOCIAL CONFORMITY!!! I mean, we're only awake during the day because our society dictates it :-P
A N S W E R . T R U T H F U L L Y !!
1. Do you like anyone?: Sure.
2. Do they know it?: I have no idea.
D O . Y O U . P R E F E R.
1. Sun or moon? I like both, depending, but probably moon. I am Moony, after all . . .
2. Winter or Fall?: Winter.
3. Left or right?: Right, unless in reference to politics.
4. 10 acquaintances or two best friends?: Two best friends.
5. Sunny or rainy?: Depends on what I am doing, really, honestly.
6. Vanilla ice cream or chocolate ice cream?: Chocolate ice cream.
A B O U T . Y O U!
1. What time is it?: 5:09 pm.
2. First and middle Name?: Amy Janet.
3. What do you want?: Tiffany to stop playing the victim and making me out to be the bad guy by saying she's the bad guy when it's the case of a misunderstanding where nobody is at fault!
4. Where do you want to live?: Someplace pretty and relatively inexpensive.
5. Number of kids do you want?: Two, but that would make my family a family of four. How about three?
6. You want to get married?: Yes!
U N I Q U E !
1. Nervous habit: All assortments of compulsions, biting my nails, blowing bubbles with my (not always bubble) gum.
2. Are you double jointed?: No.
4. Can you raise one eyebrow?: No.
5. Can you cross your eyes?: No
(I'm adding one: 6. Can you wiggle your ears? Yes.)
R A N D O M
1. Which shoe goes on first?: The right.
2. Ever thrown a shoe at someone?: Yes.
O T H E R
1. Do you twirl your spaghetti or cut it?: Twirl.
2. Have you ever eaten Spam?: Yes, I tried it once, so random, lol . . .
3. Favorite ice cream?: Something with lots of chocolate in it, but sometimes I'm in the mood for something totally random, like sherbet or Blue Moon.
4. How many kinds of cereal are in your cabinet?: One. I am a college student. The cabinet is just me, lol . . .
5. Do you cook?: Rarely.
6. Current mood?: Hot, sweaty, a little bit peeved.
IN . T H E . L A S T . M O N T H . H A V E . Y O U ?
1. gone out on a date?: No.
2. Bought something: Yes.
4. Sang: Yes.
5. Been hugged: Yes.
6. Felt stupid: Yes.
7. Missed someone: Yes.
9. Danced crazy: Yes.
10. Gotten your hair cut: Yes.
Edit (7:00 pm): I feel very off again; the depression is back. I can pin it on one of several (or the lot in kind) things which happened to me in the past hour or so. It's not a problem if it's provoked, is it? It's just . . . me being depressed over stuff. It's just a reaction, isn't it? Yet I feel I may be blowing it entirely out of proportion, and that's why it's a problem.
I'm finding myself in three situations, one each on both sides of a specific dynamic, and then another of a dynamic altogether, and that's why it's the problem. Oddly enough, the most stressful situation is the one within which I feel most comfortable.
. . . and it's not the schoolwork that I find most stressful. Why, oh why, do I have to care so much about other people so much??? I really should be using this research paper as a distraction, but I just can't bring myself to concentrate!
. . . and I'm not just talking about one case, either, Tiffany, if you're going to take that as some sort of attack. Certainly, our fight just now brought it up (and your entry still stands as passive-aggressive proof to anyone who wants to read it), but I've had problems with this-- and amongst many people-- for a while.
The sad thing is, I know I've done the same myself, but out of necessity, because many people just can't fathom the idea of a situation being at fault; somebody has to take the blame. We talked about in Psychology yesterday how the dominant tendency in Western cultures is to attribute things to people themselves-- their personalities, their motives, etc-- rather than the situation at hand. He is a nervous person, that's why he is shaking at this interview rather than The interview is about his sexual fantasies, that's why he is shaking at this interview. The same type of bias is what causes this dichotomy, too, I'm sure; we can't just accept that sometimes things happen beyond all rational actors' control. Situations can cause as much havoc as people, if not more so.
You know, I was really going to get some work done, today, too, before going off to Center Court. I was going to start writing my Research Paper. That went down the fucking tubes pretty damn fast.
W H O . W A S . T H E. L A S T. P E R S O N
1. You hung out with?: Does lunch today count? Lisa, Patricia, Keith, Henry, and one of Patricia's Pre-Frosh.
2. Rode in a car with?: Peter (driving), Rick, Stewart, and Laura.
3. Went to the movies with?: Tiffany, Lisa, Patricia, Linda, Henry, and Keith.
4. You went to the mall with?: Probably Lisa.
5. You went to dinner with?: Heh, does Center Court count? Lol . . . the same crowd as always . . .
6. You talked on the phone to?: Tiffany.
7. Made you laugh?: Carol.
W O U L D . Y O U . R A T H E R?
1. Pierce your nose or tongue?: Nose.
2. Be serious or be funny?: I'd like both, probably serious. You can't get much accomplished only being funny.
3. Drink whole or skim milk?: Skim milk.
4. Die in a fire or drown?: Drown.
5. Spend time with your parents or enemies?: Parents. I also don't have enemies, as far as I can tell.
D O . Y O U . P R E F E R.
1. Flowers or candy?: Candy. You can't eat flowers :-P Though, maybe candy would just be a temptation, lol . . .
2. Gray or black?: Black.
3. Color or Black and white photos? It really depends on the subject and/or purpose.
4. Lust or love? Love. Who wants just lust? Honestly . . .
5. Sunrise or sunset?: Sunset.
6. M&Ms or Skittles?: M&Ms.
7. Staying up late or waking up early?: Staying up late. Though waking up early has always been traditionally better for me. I suppose I'll get back to it, when I'm older. Right now, though, there's no point to waking up early; no one else is up, and you're just alone in the dark for several hours. SOCIAL CONFORMITY!!! I mean, we're only awake during the day because our society dictates it :-P
A N S W E R . T R U T H F U L L Y !!
1. Do you like anyone?: Sure.
2. Do they know it?: I have no idea.
D O . Y O U . P R E F E R.
1. Sun or moon? I like both, depending, but probably moon. I am Moony, after all . . .
2. Winter or Fall?: Winter.
3. Left or right?: Right, unless in reference to politics.
4. 10 acquaintances or two best friends?: Two best friends.
5. Sunny or rainy?: Depends on what I am doing, really, honestly.
6. Vanilla ice cream or chocolate ice cream?: Chocolate ice cream.
A B O U T . Y O U!
1. What time is it?: 5:09 pm.
2. First and middle Name?: Amy Janet.
3. What do you want?: Tiffany to stop playing the victim and making me out to be the bad guy by saying she's the bad guy when it's the case of a misunderstanding where nobody is at fault!
4. Where do you want to live?: Someplace pretty and relatively inexpensive.
5. Number of kids do you want?: Two, but that would make my family a family of four. How about three?
6. You want to get married?: Yes!
U N I Q U E !
1. Nervous habit: All assortments of compulsions, biting my nails, blowing bubbles with my (not always bubble) gum.
2. Are you double jointed?: No.
4. Can you raise one eyebrow?: No.
5. Can you cross your eyes?: No
(I'm adding one: 6. Can you wiggle your ears? Yes.)
R A N D O M
1. Which shoe goes on first?: The right.
2. Ever thrown a shoe at someone?: Yes.
O T H E R
1. Do you twirl your spaghetti or cut it?: Twirl.
2. Have you ever eaten Spam?: Yes, I tried it once, so random, lol . . .
3. Favorite ice cream?: Something with lots of chocolate in it, but sometimes I'm in the mood for something totally random, like sherbet or Blue Moon.
4. How many kinds of cereal are in your cabinet?: One. I am a college student. The cabinet is just me, lol . . .
5. Do you cook?: Rarely.
6. Current mood?: Hot, sweaty, a little bit peeved.
IN . T H E . L A S T . M O N T H . H A V E . Y O U ?
1. gone out on a date?: No.
2. Bought something: Yes.
4. Sang: Yes.
5. Been hugged: Yes.
6. Felt stupid: Yes.
7. Missed someone: Yes.
9. Danced crazy: Yes.
10. Gotten your hair cut: Yes.
Edit (7:00 pm): I feel very off again; the depression is back. I can pin it on one of several (or the lot in kind) things which happened to me in the past hour or so. It's not a problem if it's provoked, is it? It's just . . . me being depressed over stuff. It's just a reaction, isn't it? Yet I feel I may be blowing it entirely out of proportion, and that's why it's a problem.
I'm finding myself in three situations, one each on both sides of a specific dynamic, and then another of a dynamic altogether, and that's why it's the problem. Oddly enough, the most stressful situation is the one within which I feel most comfortable.
. . . and it's not the schoolwork that I find most stressful. Why, oh why, do I have to care so much about other people so much??? I really should be using this research paper as a distraction, but I just can't bring myself to concentrate!
