Writers, psychologists, lyricists,
mall walkers, people on the street…all these people and more spend
a fair amount of time watching others. But the presence of someone
who is “just”observing may influence the actions that are
occurring, even at the level of subatomic particles. The Heisenberg
Principle of Uncertainty suggests such an influence.
And for the observer, it may be more
difficult than imagined to watch behavior that occurs without
providing a mental filter through which to view human nature. Each
observer brings his or her assumptions along even when the goal is to
be as unobtrusive as possible.
Sometimes we go so far to ascribe
motivation to those whom we watch. We not only wonder why someone
engages in a specific behavior, we bring judgment to the scene.
If we see someone waiting patiently
for a car to leave a parking spot in a mall lot, only to have someone
zip in from the opposite direction and take the spot, we might have
immediate hypotheses leap to mind: the person taking the parking
space is inconsiderate. A scofflaw. Perhaps even antagonistic. And
how does the person who had been waiting patiently respond? With
anger, frustration, irritation, annoyance? Or does patience give way
to more aggressive behavior such as hand and finger signals?
As the watcher, we observe from the
perspective of someone who has been in a similar position before, the
position of someone who had waited patiently. We remember how we
felt.
However, we are missing the
perspective of the individual who had pulled into the vacated space.
Does he or she clap hands with glee, knowing full well that he stole
such a key spot, so close to the entrance? Or is the hand clap and
joy a result of having found a spot at all in a crowded mall parking
lot? Or is it possible that the driver never saw the waiting vehicle?
Maybe the driver was preoccupied with something that happened
earlier. Bad news delivered at work. A family squabble. A doctor
visit.
When we assume to know why people
behave the way they do and that their motivations arise from
something fundamental about them, we are committing what social
psychologists call the Fundamental Attribution Error. We assume
ignorance or arrogance or malcontent, when the actual motivation may
be much more benign. We operate from a certain history, and it can
be difficult to step away from that.
What happens when the tables are
turned? What if we are the driver that takes the just emptied parking
space? We see a car pull by us as we get out of the car; the driver
is angry, maybe talking under his breath. Or maybe the person lowers
his window and says something directly to us. Why is he so indignant?
I had a right to that spot just as much as he did!
In effect, we may be demonstrating
Self-Serving Bias, which occurs when we assess our own motivations
much more favorably than we would others. We make mistakes. Other
people are idiots. We view our actions through the lens of
situational variables. We view the behavior of others as a reflection
of personality attributes.
The Fundamental Attribution Error and
Self-Serving Bias are just a couple examples of the role that
perception plays in sorting out motivation and human behavior. As
writers, we can use this understanding to craft compelling
characters. As mall walkers and drivers and passers-by, it helps us
to remember that there are two sides to every story, and that
scenarios we witness are not blank slates that we straightforwardly
record. We select an unconscious lens from our bag (or perhaps more
correctly, baggage) and THEN we push “record.”
Cheers!
