People account for their own behaviour differently from how they account for behaviour of others. When observing the behaviour of others, we tend to attribute their actions to their character or their personality rather than to external factors. In contra

People account for their own behaviour differently from how they account for behaviour of others. When observing the behaviour of others, we tend to attribute their actions to their character or their personality rather than to external factors. In contrast, we tend to explain our own behaviour in terms of situational factors beyond our control rather than attributing it to our own character. One explanation for this difference is that people are aware of the situational forces affecting them but not of the situational forces affecting other people. Thus when evaluating someone else's behaviour, we focus on the person rather than the situation.