Is it important to try to understand people's motivations before judging their actions?

Ian Percy, an organizational psychologist and a renowned business speaker, once said, “We judge others by their behavior. We judge ourselves by our intentions.” Perhaps he was right in making this statement as most people have an inclination to judge people on the basis of their actions only. In the process of making such a judgment, these people often ignore the intentions behind those actions. What these people fail to realize is that they should judge other people in the same manner in which they judge themselves. Therefore, we should make an effort in understanding people’s motivations before judging their actions because by understanding the reasons behind people’s actions we can make a fair and sound judgment of their actions.

Aesop fable ‘The boy who cried wolf’ supplies us with a very illustrative case to understand the significance of comprehending motivations behind a person’s actions. One day, a shepherd boy, who became bored with his daily routine, started calling out ‘wolf!’ The villages heard the boy’s cries and thought that the boy might be in danger. They rushed to his rescue but found that the boy was lying for the purpose of entertainment. Next time, a wolf actually attacked the heard. The boy again cried for help. The villagers heard the boy’s cries but did not come for his help this time. In the end, the wolf ate the flock and the villagers suffered a great loss. The villagers lacked the ability to understand the motivations behind the boy’s actions and responded only to the action according to their own perception. Like in the first case, the villagers perceived the boy as honest and truthful, reacted to the boy’s action as an emergency, failed to realize that the motivation behind that action was mere entertainment. In the second case, the villagers perceived the boy as dishonest and deceitful, judged the action as an act of foolery, failed to realize that the motivation behind that action was, in fact, a real emergency. One may argue that the element of urgency may have deprived the villagers of their sense of acute judgment but even then the importance of understanding motivations behind one’s action is evident. If any villager had made an effort to understand the motivation behind the boy’s action, we would have a happy ending to this story. For instance, a wise sage decided to check if the boy was really in trouble or not. Realizing that the herd was being attacked by a wolf, he called his fellow villagers to help the boy. The boy learned his lesson and the sage was awarded prize money by the village leader.

Hence, the next time we judge someone’s actions, we should make an effort to comprehend the motivations behind the person’s actions. Looking beyond a person’s actions is what it takes to make a good judgment.