Misunderstanding

INSPIRATIONAL, 28 Jan 2019

Prof. Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service

A family with children enjoyed a day at the beach, splashing in the water and building sand castles. Suddenly they saw what looked like an old beggar woman, walking along the beach looking for refuse and putting items in her bag. The parents called the children back and told them not to go near her. She smiled at them, but they looked away and did not return her greeting.

Later they heard that this woman picks up shards from the beach every day so that children don’t hurt their feet.

Attribution theory in psychology has discovered that most people have a tendency to ascribe good motives to themselves and bad motives to others. Let’s avoid that trap.

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Dietrich Fischer (1941-2015) from Münsingen, Switzerland, got a Licentiate in Mathematics from the University of Bern 1968 and his Ph.D. in Computer Science from New York University 1976. 1986-88 he was a MacArthur Fellow in International Peace and Security at Princeton University. He has taught mathematics, computer science, economics and peace studies at various universities and been a consultant to the United Nations. He was co-founder, with Johan Galtung, of the TRANSCEND Network for Peace, Development and Environment in 1993.

Excerpted from Dietrich Fischer’s Stories to Inspire You – TRANSCEND University Press-TUP.

 

This article originally appeared on Transcend Media Service (TMS) on 28 Jan 2019.

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