Tau.Neutrino said:
How we explain the behavior of others depends on our beliefs about their ‘true selves’
Why did they do that? It’s a question we ask every day in attempting to understand the behavior of others and make meaning of the world around us. How we answer the question, however, varies depending on our moral attitudes toward the behavior.
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> a bias to believe that people have “virtuous true selves“—the idea that, at least “deep down,” everyone is innately good. People who disapprove of a behavior are more likely to explain it in terms of the situation or circumstances rather than attributing it to the other person’s agency.
Interesting. Yes, now that you point it out. On encountering an axe murderer I would be more likely to look for reasons why the person behaved that way in terms of upbringing or mental illness, rather than just accepting that the person was bad. On the other hand, on encountering a Mother Teresa I would be less likely to look for mental illness as the cause.
> Cullen found that the more strongly participants condemned abortion, the more likely they became to report that some external factor (for example, peer pressure) must have caused the individual to make that choice. Also people’s reactions to someone who crosses political lines.
Interesting.