Hanlon´s Razor
Photo by Heather Mount on Unsplash
Brief Overview:
Never attribute to malice that which can be explained by incompetence. We have a tendency to think people do things to us on purpose. That time someone cut us off in traffic...bum! The lady who shortchanged us on our bill...thief! The HR department not telling you before hand when a meeting was scheduled...their out to ruin my day!! Most of the time (not all, nothing is 100%) people do these things not because they wish us ill, but because they have made a mistake. Our car was in their blindspot.. the waitress´s child is sick, and she´s worried about her..the HR department is understaffed.
This Mental Model allows us the chance to respond, not react, to the situations that we find ourselves in.
Classroom Connection:
The next time a student behaves a certain way in your class, take a moment and think. He probably isn´t doing it "on purpose" to cause you misery. He´s not out to get you. He probably is telling you he doesn´t have some sort of skill, and that he needs your help to develop it.