Chapter 2: The Power Of The Situation Flashcards
In Bill Gates case. Was the result of his success due to his brilliance?
Maybe, but more likely that he has a chance to tinker with full access to a powerful computer that allowed his talents to flourish.
Situation and context plays a strong role
What’s interesting about the good samaritarian experiment?
1) time constraints (situation and context) plays a more important role that what values the person holds.
2) when asked others to gauge why they did not stop, moralizing of the character (internal factors) was offered and the situation overlooked.
What then are the lessons I learn from this principle. - where situations and context might have more influence then internal factors.
1) create situations for myself that reduces chances of failure and increases chances of success.
2) recognize that so I can counter it.
What is the fundamental attribution error defined as?
The failure in underestimating context and situations and overestimating the role of personal dispositions.
What are the benefits of paying more attention to context?
This will improve the odds that you will correctly identify situational factors that are influencing your behavior and others.
Reflecting on own behavior may not show much about social influence on own thinking or behavior. So what is the better way?
See what social influences are doing to others. And it’s a safe bet that I may be susceptible.
Easterners pay attention to context and are more holistic in their view. They are incline to attribute behavior to situational factors. They attend more closely to relationships between people and objects. What about westerners?
They have a more analytic perspective. They look at objects, notes it’s attributes categorize the object on the basis of their attributes and think
About the object interns of the rules that apply to the categories.
Do people think their behavior is more responsive to situational factors than what I assume?
Yes… And they are more likely to be right then we are. They know their history and situation better than me.
Can people change?
Yes. Western people tend to think no.
But eastern people know that change the environment and you change the person.
