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The Fundamental Attribution Error Or, How to Improve an Audience Without Changing Them

One of the first things every Psych student learns about is the fundamental attribution error.  Since it’s perhaps the most common error people make, it’s relatively easy to illustrate:

Imagine reading the following letter from a man you don’t know: “I hate my children.  They’re the worst.  I don’t ever want to talk to them again.”  What can you assume about the person writing it?

Well, it’s not too hard to surmise, for example, the letter writer doesn’t like his children nor is he a good father.

But now you’ve already made a fundamental mistake.  Scratch that - the fundamental mistake.  You see, what I’ve left out is the fact that the man has a gun to his head and is being told that he and all of his children will be murdered if he doesn’t write this letter.  Now what do you think about the person writing it?

Is that an extreme example?  Perhaps.  But it illustrates the idea that human beings are quick to blame the dispositional (i.e. people-caused) and ignore the situational (i.e. environment-caused).  It’s easier that way.  To not make an error in the previous example, you would have had to stop and say: Hey, I don’t know anything about this man or where he is.  I can’t really know much about who this person is until I know that.  The correct answer to the “letter question” is: Unless I know this man’s environment, I can’t really make an accurate assessment.  Instead, we made assumptions based solely on the man and not on his situation (which turns out, in this case - as in most cases - to be fundamentally important).

The fundamental attribution error we make is that we tend to overestimate the effect a person has on his/her own actions and underestime the effect the situation or environment has on a person’s actions.

Once you’ve become aware of this problem, your life actually becomes a lot less stressful.  When someone yells at you, there’s should now be a little voice in your head that reminds you to look for the environmental causes first before just assuming the yeller is an angry, awful person.  (If you’ve ever been stressed out and running on no sleep, you’d appreciate the person who shows an understanding of your situation rather than respond in kind with anger and escalate the problem.)

So what the hell does this have to do with comedy?

A lot actually.  Where an audience is and how they are arranged is sometimes more important than who an audience is made up of.  When an audience is “tight” (comedy parlance for “not very responsive”), comics tend to blame the audience themselves, which means they are guilty of the fundamental attribution error.  At that point, the comedian is helpless.  He’s going up on stage soon and he can’t just dump this audience and get a new one.  He can, however, improve the environment the audience is in, both before and during the show.

Here are situational ways to make an audience more responsive:

* Shrink the room.  You would think an audience of 30 people would react to jokes the same regardless of where they were.  You’d be wrong.  30 people in a room that fits 300 feels empty, whereas 30 people in a room that fits 15 feels oversold.  A room that appears “oversold” gets more laughs because it gives the comedy more psychological value (“Hey, this show must be good - so many people are trying to see it there aren’t any seats left!  I’m so lucky I got one of the seats that are so in demand!”).  If your room is too large for the audience you expect, change it!  Carolines on Broadway has three tiers, each with a curtain behind it - that way, no matter how many people they have, they can close a curtain and make it seem full.  Other clubs use movable walls.  Or just add tables: a room that holds 75 neatly lined up seats might only hold 35 seats surrounding large tables for drinks.  We “edit out” those tables when we view the room, so we just see a room where there are no extra seats - a sell-out! - which in turn makes for a better show.

* Make the room dark.  People feel self-conscious about laughing, so make them feel less so by making them anonymous.  In the dark, people are more willing to laugh - they don’t have to worry about “the wrong person” seeing them!  Keeping an audience from feeling self-conscious also means covering up any mirrors that might be behind a performer.

(Anecdote: I was performing at a private event in a temple’s ball room.  The laughs were hitting very weirdly.  About 5 minutes into my show, I realized I had my back to a mirror - which meant that the audience was not just watching me but themselves!  Talk about making an audience feel self-conscious!  As soon as I realized it, I subtly took five or six steps and rotated a bit so that my backdrop was the solid wall perpendicular to it.  I’m not exaggerating when I see the laughs audibly increased within a minute or two as a result of that tiny change.)

* Make the room a comedy room.  I’m often in clubs or venues that don’t “feel” like they were designed for comedy.  I’m not even talking about their stage or A/V set-up - I mean, their logo and color scheme, how their room actually looks.  A room that suggests comedy will put people in the “comedy” mind set.  There’s a reason some comedy clubs have fake brick walls behind a stage: it evokes a certain comedy aesthetic.  If you’re producing a show in a bar or a ballroom, consider hanging banners or even comedy LPs: anything that tells the audience, “Hey, comedy happens here!”  (Obviously, don’t overdo it, as that would backfire.)  In addition, making a venue appear professional also helps: investing a few bucks into curtains, a nicer mike stand, a backdrop, etc., really goes a long way to helping the show.

* Make the show important.  Why do you think comedians kill on TV?  First, if we’re at a taping, we assume a comedian must be good if he or she has been chosen to appear on TV, so we give them the benefit of the doubt.  Second, it’s exciting!  We’re in a situation where us laughing might get us on TV!  Part of the TV warm-up comic’s job is to instruct the audience to laugh at every available moment; basically, if they get too wrapped up in the situation (which they will), they’re default mode should be to laugh.  Telling an audience that the show is being taped - even for an online show or a comedy album - helps create a situation in which laughter comes easier.  This is also why so many clubs hang up pictures of famous comedians who have performed there: it helps remind and assure people that they’re at an “important” place where the stars perform.  Seinfeld might not be on stage, but knowing that Seinfeld was at one point makes an audience think, “Hey!  The comics I’m seeing tonight must also be good if they’re on the same stage Seinfeld still uses!”  Setting up an exciting, important situation causes the audience to react in kind, creating a much more conducive atmosphere for enjoyment.

(Another anecdote: I’ve been co-producing Sage Stand-Up for four years.  We started at the Sage Theater, a beautiful 100-seat theater in Times Square.  When the theater shut down, we moved temporarily to Hurley’s, which has an open 3rd floor.  Even though we attracted the same audience - we had, and continue to have, many repeat customers - the laughter was noticeably different.  A large part of that, I think, is that the theatrical setting really lent our show a lot of import.  When you’re sitting in a theater, you’re much more respectful and open to entertainment than when you’re in a bar.  Now we’re at Bar 82 - quick plug! sagestandup.com! - which features a theater-like setting in the back and our laughs are back where they used to be.)

So, the bottom line: sometimes you might not be able to change the make-up of the audience you have in front of you, but you can try to adjust the environment you’re in.  (For example, how hard is it to have a curtain closed behind you at a theater with a bare stage or the room lights darkened?  Those both make big differences.)  By exploring environmental or situational aspects of the comedy experience instead of blaming dispositional ones, we avoid the fundamental attribution error and can have much better shows!

P.S.  Matt Ruby has an interesting list of other attributes that can affect a room here: http://www.sandpapersuit.com/2008/01/comedy-feng-shui-10-things-that-ruin.html.  Most of the things on his list either reduce a room’s “comedy-ness” or “importance” and would fit under my rubric in those two categories, but his specifics are still worth taking a look at if you’re producing a show.