Why do people judge others by their actions, but judge themselves by their intentions?

Question

We tend to be quick to condemn others by what they do, yet justify our own actions by saying "well, i didn't mean to hurt anyone....etc.etc"

Answer 1

People are judgemental by nature. What we do is trivialize what we do wrong. The way we do that is to compare ourselves to other's 'dirt' and make ourselves feel better about what we have done. No matter what we have done, we want to be able to point at someone else and say, " I may have done this but you did THAT!". And thus remove our guilt. That was one reason people enjoyed having Bill Clinton in the limelight regarding a sex scandal. A great deal of people who were judging Clinton were themselves engaging in the same activity. But they felt better about what they were doing because Clinton removed THEIR guilt. Also watch out for people that are extra condemning in certain 'areas' because there is a chance that they are engaging in the activity that they are so hard on.

Answer 2

Actions have consequences does not mean intentions don't come into it they do. If there is a car accident and it is just that an accident a blown Tyre say, no one blames the driver if someone was killed it was not his intention to go out and kill someone. There for he is judged by his intention. If however same said person gets into a car drunk or high on drugs his intention is to carry out an illegal act. It is illegal to drive under the influence therefor his intention when he got in the car was already one of willingly braking the law. Everything has a rule and an exception to it. People are judged by their actions and their intentions.

Answer 3

Because we have the ability to know our own intentions, but when we are hurt by others we no longer trust what their intentions may have been.

Hurting someone's feelings is not about being right or wrong. We never know what has happened in a person's life, therefor we never know how they may react. When someone's feelings are hurt ( There is a difference between hurting someone's pride and hurting someone's feelings) just apologize. It makes life so much better.

Answer 4

Because actions speak louder than words. What you intend, and what you do, may be two entirely different things. People can't read our thoughts to know our intent, but our behavior is right out there for the world to see. And that, my friend, is what we are judged on.

Answer 5

Yeah good question..
Maybe because they do not have an ability to know others intention..

The right way to do is just make urself busy...dont think about anyone that doesnt have an effect to u..etc: mother, father, brother...Think about ourself before we can critic others..

People also commonly judge others by their appearance and clothes, does that make a sense?

Answer 6

I think it's because we don't really know other peoples intentions and the only proof to us is their actions. We really shouldn't judge people to begin with, it's not up to us.

Answer 7

That's a classic human tendency I learned about in Psychology.

I think it has to do with what we can see. We can know our own thoughts, but we can really only see another's actions.

I know it's not fair. We should give others the same benefit of the doubt we give ourselves.

Answer 8

the road to hell is paved with good intentions (if you believe in that sort of thing). People should not judge period... but it is human nature and a cold fact of life.

Answer 9

We judge by observed behavior. Internally, intention is an observed behavior. However, we cannot see intentions within others.

Answer 10

We seem to be hypocrites by nature in spite of whatever belief system we have.