Comments on Livia Blackburne: Using the Fundamental Attribution Error to Control...

Very interesting post (as ever!), thanks.

2010-10-14T23:03:22.253-04:00

Very interesting post (as ever!), thanks.

Thanx…

2010-06-02T05:12:26.636-04:00

Thanx…

Excellent article. I can see some juicy ramificat...

2010-05-20T16:12:30.435-04:00

Excellent article. I can see some juicy ramifications of using this principle to create specific effects by manipulating the information that both readers and POV characters have about the circumstances behind non-POV characters' mistakes. This, I will put on my own stuff-to-blog schedule. Thanks for the inspiration!

Thanks! Although much of the credit goes to someo...

2009-10-15T20:25:39.929-04:00

Thanks! Although much of the credit goes to someone else. I'll explain when I finally get around to posting about it :-)

Congrats on your prize!! http://www.guidetoliterar...

2009-10-14T19:51:24.138-04:00

Congrats on your prize!!
http://www.guidetoliteraryagents.com/blog/PermaLink,guid,3b60e7e9-111c-44cf-a6d4-6b235bd7cf42.aspx

:)

2009-10-14T18:23:59.973-04:00

Man, can't get a break can I? Iapetus- I'...

2009-10-14T18:17:08.869-04:00

Man, can't get a break can I? Iapetus- I'll make it up to you by dedicating a blog post to you. I'm serious -- you inspired another blog post. It probably won't come out for a while, but I'll give you a heads up when it does.

I think she's testing us just to annoy us. :)

2009-10-14T16:39:50.416-04:00

I think she's testing us just to annoy us. :)

This is a test, this is only a test.

2009-10-14T16:02:54.293-04:00

This is a test, this is only a test.

We have a psychological principal at our house cal...

2009-10-12T23:09:43.673-04:00

We have a psychological principal at our house called "Pot Kettle Black." Meaning, the things that bug you about other people are usually the things that you are bad at yourself. Consider a neat freak. Sure, slobs annoy neat freaks. But what really upsets a neat freak? Someone who "claims" to be neat but really isn't. Or, someone who is neater than them and points out their flaws. So someone who gets upset about someone else's tardiness is probably fairly tardy themselves.
Now I'm saying this is always the case, but it's always amusing when it happens.

Interesting - this may have pointed me toward a so...

2009-10-12T23:01:00.702-04:00

Interesting - this may have pointed me toward a solution for my nano. I want the brother of the king to be thought the bad guy, but he's really a pawn of someone else (I've got to figure that out too.).

By keeping his motivation hidden, that may work. It'll also make his turning and starting to help the king much more believable.

Thanks!

Suelder

Iapetus -- your thought about people attributing t...

2009-10-12T21:46:34.417-04:00

Iapetus -- your thought about people attributing their one's own motivations is an interesting one. I bet there's some studies of that phenomenon too -- but I'm not well versed in social psych. I'm guessing people with higher "EQ" are better at avoiding the mistake of thinking that other people think just like them. To some degree, authors have to be good at doing that -- or else all their characters end up very similar to themselves.

And it's true that there's more going in people's heads than just the fundamental attribution error. Thankfully, people are complex thinkers and have some kind of freedom to avoid living simply by these broad heuristics.

Woot! So I kinda disagree with "fundamental a...

2009-10-12T21:39:35.066-04:00

Woot!
So I kinda disagree with "fundamental attribution error" in this way:
People attribute their own motivations on other people's actions. It really can be a mirror of their own psyche. Not only that, but they react in a way that confirms their suspicions.
So when someone else is late, you're going to be pissed because you did everything to be on time. But if you're late, you know you didn't do everything to be on time. You know you're being inconsiderate, no matter the circumstances. People know all this on the inside, but they choose their interpretations.
I do think it's an interesting concept, and it's a great way to create conflict in fiction.

Hi Livia, Comments are working again. :-) This ...

2009-10-12T21:30:47.368-04:00

Hi Livia, Comments are working again. :-)

This is a great post! I plan to link to it from my blog.

Comments were broken under the old template, but t...

2009-10-12T21:16:47.426-04:00

Comments were broken under the old template, but they are working now. Sorry about that!