Fundamental attribution error
Also known as Correspondence bias
The tendency to explain other people's behavior by their personality while underrating the situation they are in.
In everyday life
A driver who cuts you off gets labeled a jerk, though they might be rushing someone to the hospital.
A new waiter forgets your order twice, and you decide he's lazy and careless, without knowing he's covering eight tables alone on his first shift.
Why your mind does this
To act at all, we need some belief that our choices matter and that we can pull them off. A bit of extra confidence gets us moving, keeps us going after setbacks, and protects our sense of self-worth and our standing in a group.
How to spot it
Notice when you jump from one action to a firm judgment about who someone is.
How to counter it
Before judging, list at least two outside pressures that could make a decent person act this way.
Same family: Confidence to act
- Overconfidence effect
- Social desirability bias
- Third-person effect
- False consensus effect
- Hard-easy effect
- Lake Wobegon effect
- Dunning-Kruger effect
- Egocentric bias
- Optimism bias
- Forer effect
- Barnum effect
- Self-serving bias
- Actor-observer bias
- Illusion of control
- Illusory superiority
- Fundamental attribution error
- Defensive attribution hypothesis
- Trait ascription bias
- Effort justification
- Risk compensation
- Peltzman effect
SourcesJones & Harris (1967)·Wikipedia