Working at an elementary after school program, I see and experience a lot of errors in judgment. A kindergartener at my school recently moved here from Japan and does not know any English aside from “Hello” and “Bye”. He cried almost every day for about a month because of the language barrier and, I’m sure, the difficulties he faced daily because of that. Many of the other kids constantly questioned what was wrong with him and assumed he did not want to be friends with anyone. He was instantly isolated from his peers despite not doing a thing. A lot of the first and second graders followed the kindergarteners’ attitude towards the little boy without even asking why or if anything was wrong. It pains me to see how quick people conform to others and refuse to see things from the other person’s perspective. This is an example of the fundamental attribution error, which is only taking internal causes into consideration instead of situational factors when assessing people’s behavior (Gruman, Schneider, & Coutts, 2017).
Self-serving bias is another judgment error I witness often with my students. This form of bias is the tendency to blame shortcomings or negative outcomes on external factors and credit internal causes when there are positive outcomes (Gruman, Schneider, & Coutts, 2017). While playing handball with the kids, a lot of them like to use all types of excuses when they get out. For example, some say they were distracted because their friends made them laugh, some say their shoes prevented them from moving fast enough, and some blame the rules for not being “right”. Yes, I have heard it all. These same kids also enjoy mentioning to their friends that they won a match because they are “super skilled” and know what moves to use to get certain players out.
There are many forms of cognitive errors and biases that circulate around the children’s thought process, affecting their actions and reasoning. I try to point out the negative effects that follow closely behind these errors with the hopes that they eventually recognize and learn. Shaping young minds can be a difficult task, but I am always up for the challenge.
Gruman, J. A., Scheinder, F. W., Coutts, L. M. (2018). Applied Social Psychology (3rd ed.). Los Angeles, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.
I work in an elementary school and also see the same frustrating behaviors you mentioned. If students are taught to see things from anothers point of view much earlier, I think they would be less hurtful to other students and could possibly become friends with more students. It’s hard having to witness these things but it is up to us to help prevent the same things from happening in the future.