I’ll be nicer when things are better: situational attribution, dispositional attribution, your team and you
If another driver doesn’t indicate, I’m likely to think “bad driver” (or perhaps something a little less polite, ahem).
If I don’t indicate, I’m likely to think “whoops – distracted!”
This is an example of a phenomenon in psychology called dispositional or situational attribution.
When someone else does something we don’t like, we can tend to attribute it to their disposition – that is, to who they are as a person. This is sometimes called internal attribution. So, when the other driver doesn’t indicate, that is because they are a bad driver, a clown, a moron or worse.
When we do something wrong, though, we can tend to attribute it to external factors, to the situation. I’m a good driver, but on this particular occasion I happened to be distracted by something on the radio and forgot to indicate.
As with most apparent binaries, the truth is likely somewhere in between.
Last week I wrote about whether the bad leader might be you. This is a linked phenomenon. Many leaders displaying poor leadership behaviours will use situational attribution. They think that they are good leaders who are just under pressure or going through a temporary challenge. They will get back to doing “all the right things” when they can.
Your team will tend to apply dispositional attribution. They will think you are a bad leader. What can you do about that? Next week I’ll have a few suggestions.
Until next time, take care of yourself and others,
Madeleine
PS Are you a lawyer who treats every single piece of work as both urgent and maximally important – making prioritisation impossible and leaving stress levels at 100? If you are (or if you know a lawyer like that), Thriving as a Lawyer is a private one:one program to help you change that. It’s now open for applications.
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