Why do somebody do something ?
interpreting the actions and words of others ....
Why do somebody do something? that fills our lives - our families, our teachers, our friends, our co-workers ....Why did somebody do something or say something. What's in their mind that's making them to behave that way ?
There's at least two kinds of explanations. One of them is character. So personality psychology is all about that. The character of the person is making them behave that way because they are outgoing or because they're shy or whatever. If someone is helping another then he is a really nice guy. If someone is having a hard time solving a puzzle then he's kind of a dummy. If someone is giving another money then he is kind and generous. That's the personality predisposition interpretation. So that's the who he is or she is.
Next explanation can be drawn from the situation. They are behaving that way because they are in a particular situation. If someone is helping another then it might be because his friends are breaking in to the apartment that another person is leaving behind or there may be someone else there and he may be trying to impress that person what a swell guy he is. If someone is having a hard time solving a puzzle then it might be a impossible puzzle or he didn't get nearly enough sleep. If someone is giving money to another then that person may be a drug dealer. He is a courier running - whatever - it's a situation.
So, what's it? the character or the situation?
Let's consider them in one another way. Here's my story.
One day I was in a very long queue. I was waiting for an appointment with the principal and there were many others in the queue for the same purpose. It was probably a couple of hours or more that I have been there in a queue. Suddenly a man came out of nowhere and got in the very beginning of a queue. After a minute or so he got his turn and had his appointment . I was waiting there for a very long and this man got his turn within a minute. So I started thinking this person is a bit inconsiderate, a bit disorganized, a bit unmotivated. But, one day I was in a hurry and I had to get the appointment as soon as possible. It was very important for me to get the appointment. And then there was the same queue and many people were standing in the queue. So, I didn't care about other and I crossed the queue from the very beginning and had my appointment. So, was I inconsiderate, disorganized or unmotivated? No, because something came up and it's a situation.
So, this comes to a conclusion about something called fundamental attribution error - that we are biased to interpret the actions of others as revealing their character, whereas we're biased to interpret our own actions as being driven by the situation we're in.
