Worth knowing People

Assume the other person had a reason

You explain your own behaviour by circumstance and theirs by character. So do they.

Moderate evidenceReal support, but smaller effects or fewer replications than you would want.
What it costs One pause

Do this

Before reacting to someone's behaviour, generate one situational explanation that would fully account for it. Then act on the assumption it might be true. You are not required to believe it - only to check.

Why it works

The tendency to over-attribute others' behaviour to disposition and our own to situation is one of the more robust findings in social psychology, though it varies across cultures more than early work assumed. The asymmetry is largely explained by having far more information about our own circumstances.

Where it fails

Applied indiscriminately this becomes a way of excusing repeated harm. Patterns are dispositional information - the correction is for single instances, not for someone's third time.

How you’ll know

Notice how often the situational explanation turns out to be right when you eventually find out. Most people are startled by the rate.