“It’s easy for people to see a failing student and think, ‘He just doesn’t get it,’ ‘He’s not smart’ or ‘He’s not self-controlled,’” he said. “Our basic intuition can tell us that problems are due to inadequacies in the individual: ‘If only he were smarter or less lazy he’d do fine.’ That can lead to victim-blaming. And it ignores how the world looks to that person – the interpretations he draws, often reasonably, based on his experience and context – that can prevent him from succeeding.”