Don't like how you behave? Blame it on circumstances

Enlarge Image

TO understand human nature, you must appreciate the power of situations. This sums up the fascinating perspective of this well-written and researched work of pop psychology.

Tufts University psychologist Sam Sommers has a winner with his first book, Situations Matter.

Based near Boston, Sommers hypothesizes that the way we behave in different circumstances is dictated by the circumstances themselves rather than by inherent personality traits we possess.

The human tendency, he says, is to blame others' actions on their personality rather than to take a step back and realize that it's actually the situation itself that is shaping how someone behaves at that particular moment.

Yet we rarely take notice of that fact.

He writes: "Ordinary contexts of all types -- where you are, who you're with, what you see around you -- transform how you act and, indeed, what kind of person you appear to be."

Situations Matter is full of useful insights and practical applications for the myriad studies he recounts. All of the information is readable and easily accessible for his readers.

Sommers says we are all guilty of WYSIWYG -- what you see is what you get -- when we assume that one person's behaviour in a particular situation is indicative of that person's true, consistent character.

Sommers says empirical evidence demonstrates that it's the situation rather than a person's own consistent internal character that dictates behaviour.

People are easy to see, writes Sommers, whereas situations are very difficult to decipher. That's the reason we're inclined to stick to "internal explanations for behaviour when we don't have the mental energy to consider the alternatives."

One of the best examples of how what you see is what you get isn't the case is when many different men and women studying to join the clergy didn't stop to help a person who was obviously in trouble.

The passersby were not being mean or negligent, they were simply in a big rush. In the experiment, they were told they were ahead of schedule, most of them stopped to help the person clearly in trouble.

But when they were told they were running late, 93 per cent of those same aspiring members of the clergy failed to stop and help.

Another reason bystanders fail to stop when they see someone in trouble is that crowds diffuse responsibility. Everyone thinks someone else in the crowd will take care of the emergency.

The best way, says Sommers, to get help in a crowd is to focus on one person and ask for help from that person specifically and directly.

Sommers also observes that people content with life "tend to have an unrealistically high opinion of themselves and an exaggerated sense of control over events around them." Those with a more realistic view of the world can get depressed more easily, he notes.

He also notes that in studies, gender differences in math performance disappear when the teachers administering the tests don't precondition the groups to think that males will do better than females.

Brenlee Carrington, a Winnipeg lawyer and mediator, is the Law Society of Manitoba's equity ombudswoman.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition February 4, 2012 J7