People like to feel that they are in control of the situation, which is why they are inclined to make thinking errors. Psychologists have concluded that people in negative situations like to maintain control by identifying someone to blame. When achieving successes, people seem to attribute success mainly to themselves, while they attribute failure to the situation. What fallacies exist regarding control over our lives? And to what extent do people make thinking errors?
- Great need for control
- The defensive fallacy
- The self-serving fallacy
- The self-centered fallacy
- Does everyone make these mistakes?
Great need for control
People have a need to feel good about themselves. Feeling good about themselves is related to the belief that people think that they themselves are less ‘susceptible’ to negative events, they are convinced that they pay enough attention to avoid negative situations. When people judge their fellow human beings, they are more likely to think that something negative happens more often to their fellow human beings, because their fellow human beings pay less attention. This has to do with the great (and increasing) need for control in our society. (Fiske, S., 2004)
The defensive fallacy
A fallacy that people often make is the defensive fallacy. This fallacy is about assigning blame in a negative situation. Having a sense of control is often related to being able to identify someone to blame in the event of a negative or intense situation. People find it reassuring in a way that there is someone to blame when something bad happens; If they avoid this culprit as best as possible, the negative situation can also be avoided. In general; the more serious the situation is, the better people find it to be able to identify someone to blame. The idea that a situation can just happen, without people being able to do anything to avoid it, is very unpleasant. It is neither rational nor logical that there is always someone to blame. Yet this does fall within the normal human need for control. (Fiske, S. 2004)
Difference between judging an equal or less equal
When a negative event occurs, such as a terrorist attack, people are inclined to judge the perpetrator of this attack more mildly if it resembles them (for example, if it belongs to the same gender or race). When the perpetrator of the attack does not look like them, people do not judge the perpetrator so leniently. (Fiske, S., 2004)
The self-serving fallacy
The self-serving fallacy concerns the extent to which people want to ‘serve’ themselves in different situations. When a successful situation occurs to a person, people tend to attribute the resulting successes to themselves, while in the case of failures, people tend to attribute the failure to the situation. For example, if someone gets a promotion at work, they think that this is mainly due to their recent efforts. This is an internal factor. However, the boss’s good mood and the company’s success can also influence getting promoted. These are so-called situational factors. When failure occurs, people do the opposite. People tend to attribute failure to the other person or to the situation. If one receives a bad review during an appraisal interview, one is more likely to think that this has to do with the boss’s mood.
In the case of success, people mainly attribute success to internal factors (themselves), while in the case of failure, people are more likely to attribute the failure to the situation or to the other person. The effect of this fallacy is greatest for important tasks (such as a promotion or an important exam) and smaller for less important tasks (such as a tidy desk). (Fiske, S., 2004)
Difference between children and adults
Research shows that both children and adults make the self-serving fallacy. Both adults and children are therefore more likely to attribute success to themselves, while they are less likely to take the blame for failures.
(Fiske, S., 2004)
The self-centered fallacy
The self-centered fallacy makes people think that they perform more on collaborative assignments than other people.
When people participate in a joint project, such as a group assignment, housework in a student house or a volleyball match, people tend to think that they do more than the others. People think that their contribution to success is greater than the contribution of others. Group member A of a project group thinks that the success of the project result can mainly be attributed to him, while group member B probably thinks this too. (Fiske, S., 2004)
Remembering one’s own efforts versus the efforts of others
The cause of this seems to lie in the capacity of memory; people remember their own contribution to a project better than the contribution of others. When people complete a questionnaire about their own contribution and the contribution of others, this difference emerges. People are therefore not immediately aware that they judge the other person’s efforts to be worse than they actually were. The intention is therefore not to make the other person worse off; people simply remember their own efforts better.
(Fiske, S., 2004)
Does everyone make these mistakes?
Exceptions always prove the rule, but in general it is a fallacy to think that we do not make mistakes ourselves. If you think you are not making these thinking mistakes, challenge yourself and check your thoughts over the next 2 weeks. This way you become more aware of how your brain works and how your brain can sometimes fool you a bit.