Why is it easier to give others blame than to give them credit?

Legendary basketball coach John Wooden suggests this question is a major puzzler in life: "Why is it easier to give others blame than to give them credit?"

John Wooden

The answer might be a result of the fact that there are two separate and distinct attitudes available for adoption by human beings regarding blame and credit. Some people prefer the idea that life is all about abundance. Abundance is a condition in which there is virtually an unlimited potential for growth, development, and improvement of living standards. Opposite to the abundance mentality is the scarcity mentality. In this paradigm people believe in order to have something they have to take it away from someone else. In the scarcity mentality life is seen not as a competition to imagine, create, and build, so much as it is a battle to confiscate and exploit. In a perfect world, the abundance mentality prevails and people imagine, create, and build. When the abundance mentality prevails, living standards rise. In the horrifying world where the scarcity mentality prevails just the opposite occurs. When enough people can be convinced to adopt the scarcity mentality, society makes it very easy for them to blame others. Giving others credit is not part of the mindset when the scarcity mentality is the prevailing view. You see this play out on political landscape every single day. There are simply too many incentives to give blame and not nearly enough to give credit.