What is the difference between an excuse and a reason? β¨β¨A reason explains why something happened, while an excuse tries to avoid responsibility or blame for something that happened.
Reason:
* Provides a factual explanation for an event or action.
* Acknowledges the situation and its consequences.
* Often rooted in reality and doesn’t attempt to shift blame.
* Example: “I was late because I got stuck in traffic”.
Excuse:
* Attempts to justify or avoid accountability for a negative outcome.
* Often shifts blame to external factors or other people.
* Can be a way to avoid facing the consequences of one’s actions.
* Example: “I was late because my alarm did not go off” (suggesting someone else is to blame).
One way to see it is that an excuse is about avoiding consequences. You do not have to make it right if it is not your fault.
A reason or explanation is taking responsibility and recognising a need to make things right. For example, if a company cannot install a radiator when promised, the company could explain why, apologise for it, offer another installation time, or maybe even a discount.
A reason explains why something has happened based on facts. It offers understanding and justification without the intent to deflect blame. A reason provides insight and elucidation without the intention of evading accountability or shifting responsibility or justify poor performance. This might reflect real or fabricated circumstances, but its main purpose is to shield somebody from accountability.
Whether avoiding blame or ensuring that our decision was sound, we want to feel right. In such instances, individuals tend to exhibit Confirmation Bias, wherein they exclusively acknowledge information that corroborates their pre-existing beliefs while neglecting the comprehensive array of data pertinent to the situation at hand.
If something has gone wrong, and we need to explain it, we might tell the story in a way that demonstrates that the fault is not ours and that we did the best we could under the circumstances. It is a fundamental human motivation that drives a lot of what we do, including, in this case, excuse-making.
However, admitting you were wrong goes a long way to strengthen your relationships.
Fundamental attribution error is an interesting phenomenon that might also be at work. Attribution is the word for assigning blame regarding the cause of something. Over and over, people attribute fault based on general assumptions about people that might not be true. Hence, the term fundamental attribution error.
For example, if I am associated with a situation that went wrong, someone might blame me because they think I am rude, and rude people will do things like that. So, they have not only attributed the blame to me, but also passed judgment about my character.
In this fictional situation where someone blamed me for the outcome, it could have been a stressful afternoon that inspired a less-than-polite response from me. So, I am not a rude person; it was just a bad moment. Hence, the error in the phenomenonβs name.
The fundamental part of the term comes from the idea that we all do this. We are almost always more willing to give ourselves grace than others in such situations.β¨
