Fundamental Attribution Error

Definition of Fundamental Attribution Error : the tendency for observers, when analyzing another's behavior, to underestimate the impact of the situation and to overestimate the impact of personal disposition.

I believe it is possible to know something without understanding it. Yesterday I came to really understand something that I have known for quite sometime.

Let me set the scene . . . Friday at work. The group heads over to Kearns park for a free lunch. The park is packed. It is hot and windy. We sit down in the pavilion with our school cafeteria-esk hamburgers and chip bags. The wind is pick-pocketing anything not hammered to the table. One boy, in particular, has been moody all week. And he has this can of soda. Seemingly harmless, right? Wrong. Nobody really payed him any mind until he had shaken up the can and had his hand on the trigger. "Don't even think about it." But before there could be an intervention, everyone had been showered by the exploded diet cola. I mean everyone. Not just the group, not just those in close vicinity, but everyone in the entire pavilion. Thanks to the wind.

Another boy in the group was ready to throw fists. The mothers of the pavilion couldn't be less happy with him. The hoodlum refused to apologize. And I sat there, trying not to laugh, because we don't condone that sort of behavior.

So, what did I learn? I learned not to judge others. Those groaning, disapproving mothers, that may or may not have gotten the brunt of the explosion, really had no right to judge. They don't have a clue about this boy, or the things he has gone through, or the things he has to cope with. I do. So as they were openly grumbling, I began to feel rather protective of the boy and his reputation. I imagine the mothers probably thinking his act was due to some sort of personality flaw. I believe his behavior was simply trying to communicate something. I can't help but feel like Heavenly Father, as personally and perfectly as he knows all of his children, feels this sense of protection when judgements are made.

And so, with this funny little experience, I came to understand.