By Edwin Cooney
Hey there, don't try pulling the wool over my eyes, ‘cause I know you like I know me. Don't tell me you've never tried to understand who someone is by their behavior even though you have little or no psychological training! After all, I've done it thousands of times and even if you're only half the sinner I am, that's plenty of sinning!
That's why I paid attention to the obituary of Dr. Lee Ross by Alex Traub which I read last week in the New York Times. Back about 1977, young Dr. Ross wrote a piece he titled "The Intuitive Psychologist and His Short Comings." The substance of his book was what he termed "The Fundamental Attribution Error." So, you may well ask, what the hell is an “attribution error?"
The answer to that question is simple. Whenever or almost whatever and, especially, whoever we try and understand and assess, we ultimately attribute who they are by their personhood rather than by the circumstances that affect who they ultimately are.
Ross's work has increasingly been utilized by modern professors, psychologists and writers. The theory of fundamental attribution error compels one to take into account the social circumstances rather than the actions or personality under consideration.
We who attempt to understand the factors that have influenced historical movements and events too often focus on the personalities of individual leaders rather than on the factors that influenced those leaders who directed historical events. It's not enough to simply label the Kennedy Administration the “era of Camelot,” LBJ's time as "The Great Society," the Reagan Administration as "Morning in America,” or even the Trump Administration as “the era of damnation and disaster" which millions of Biden Democrats might be inclined to do — me included.
The question, as stated above, is to what might we profitably attribute historical events? The answer to that question broadly speaking is knowledge of and an understanding of the forces social, economic, political and spiritual that cause people to respond. It's all too easy to react to what happens in front of you (and sometimes it's absolutely necessary to respond to what's in front of you), but the truth might be that the cause of what you see is something you'll never know.
As Alex Traub writes in his obituary of Dr. Ross, you may be waiting in line when someone jumps ahead of you to obtain a product or benefit from a service. You're reaction to this "rudeness" is likely to consist of labeling this line-jumper as a jerk — the type who would snatch candy away from a baby or trip Santa Claus. The truth might be, however, that this line-jumper may be someone who's desperate to get to the airport to catch a flight to visit and comfort someone in his or her family who is dying.
Above, I listed and characterized the Kennedy, Johnson, Reagan, and Trump administrations using judgmental terms by which they're generally recognized. The more truly informative and real question about these administrations is what forces, hopes, fears and ambitions brought them about thus causing them to function as they did?
Dr. Lee Ross's “fundamental attribution error” is applicable in relations personal and impersonal, conflicts local, state, regional, national as well as international.
I offer the following, although this is very personal, because it best illustrates the damage and even uncertainty that Fundamental Attribution Error brings about. I have never been able to learn what compelled my biological mother to keep me permanently separated from her and my two half sisters! To what was she subjected? What did she believe or not believe that led her to respond to my personal existence as she did? I've always wanted to know what she went through that caused her to "include me out" as one comic once put another dangerous circumstance! My life is permanently affected by mores and events I'll never know about!
If we could more readily employ Fundamental Attribution Integrity rather than Fundamental Attribution Error as we seek to understand our history and ourselves, the prospects for tomorrow would be as bright and shiny as a newly minted Abraham Lincoln penny!
RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,
EDWIN COONEY
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