Fundamental Attribution Error

Lately I have been thinking a lot about how I am perceived, how I perceive others and how I come to those decisions. Ive been told many times in my life by friends that the first impression I gave them is in complete opposition to the person they now know me as. A great example would be my roommates (and now friends) that I have had in Las Vegas. When my friend Lucy met me, she said I was intimidating because I was this "city-girl, business professional PR person who had 'clients.' " That still makes me laugh. My friend Lindsay told our friend Candace she "just couldnt figure me out" for a few months. Lindsay told her, "She's SO quiet but now and again, she'll open her mouth and say something SO funny!" These girls now know the real Jackie and that although I have a quiet, reserved side I can also be very outgoing, sociable and fun-loving. Which brings me to the point I am trying to make. I believe that a person's personality is more situational than absolute.

A book I recently read by Malcolm Gladwell called Blink talks about Fundamental Attribution Error, which says that we often assign either/or labels to people, when in truth, personalities are much more of a gray area than we can wrap our heads around. We like to say a person is either this or that: kind or mean, introverted or extroverted, honest or deceitful. But the reality is that we are different people in different situations. To use myself again as an example, on the job I am mostly serious and to the point. With friends or at home, I am laidback and goofy. I think my co-workers for the most part wouldnt recognize weekend Jackie. Its true that some people never change according to their situations, but I think this is a small percentage of the population. We often create different identities within our entire identity, but it doesnt make us two-faced, just human.

A recent article in Psychology magazine talked about misunderstood personality types and referenced personalities that were in contradiction to each other, such as the "shy extrovert." It gave the example of a professor that gave amazing lectures and all his students perceived him as outgoing. Outside of class however, the professor was truly so shy that after his lectures he would feel sick to his stomach and so shaky that he would have to spend an hour just calming himself down!

I think when we make assumptions about people before we really know them, we can end up selling ourselves short. I know that if my roommates hadnt given me a chance and taken the time to get to know me, I would still be to them that quiet, reserved girl some of them didnt understand. I'm glad I was able to get comfortable enough around them to feel like I could show them my true colors. It's become my personal goal to not make snap judgements about people before really getting to know them.

* On a side note though, I do believe in intuition and I think that sometimes our snap judgements about people can be correct, but not always. For example: If I meet a guy and he gives me the willies, you can bet I wont be giving him too much personal information.