Now listen to part of a lecture in a psychology class.
Professor: So we encounter this in life all the time, but many of us are unaware that we do this ...even psychologists who study it. . . like me. For example, the other day I was at the store and I was getting in line to buy something. But just before I was actually in line, some guy comes out of nowhere and cuts right in front of me. Well, I was really annoyed and thought, “That was rude!” I assumed he was just a selfish, inconsiderate person when, in fact, I had no idea why he cut in line in front of me or whether he even realized he was doing it. Maybe he didn't think I was actually in line yet. .. But my immediate reaction was to assume he was a selfish or rude person.
OK, so a few days after that, I was at the store again. Only this time I was in a real hurry—I was late for an important meeting—and I was frustrated that everything was taking so long. And what's worse, all the checkout lines were long, and it seemed like everyone was moving so slowly. But then I saw a slightly shorter line! But some woman with a lot of stuff to buy was walking toward it, so I basically ran to get there first, before her, and, well, I did. Now, I didn’t think of myself as a bad or rude person for doing this. I had an important meeting to get to —I was in a hurry, so, you know, I had done nothing wrong.
