Unfortunately I feel like I commit the fundamental attribution error on a daily basis. The fundamental attribution error describes the tendency for people to attribute other people’s behavior to personality traits rather than situational circumstances (Ross, 1977). When someone else is late or rude or lazy I instantly jump to blame and criticize them. It is not until I find myself making the same type of error that I realize that maybe their circumstances affected their behavior and that I could have been more understanding. I feel like I make the FAE most with my best friends. When I call one of them and they are short with me and they tell me they are just busy and stressed, I do not believe them, assuming that they are just being rude on purpose. I always think to myself “jeez, don’t take it out on me it’s not my fault!” However, when I am stressed and they call me I often snap at them. When they ask me not to be rude, I’m usually surprised and can’t see why they don’t understand that I am just busy and stressed. Thankfully, I have patient, understanding friends who seem to understand that I am only human and can forget that others often experience the same stress as me.
Ross, L. (1977). The intuitive psychologist and his shortcomings: Distortions in the attribution process. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in experimental and social psychology (Vol. 10, pp. 174-221). New York: Academic Press.
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1 comment:
Good example, but note that it actually better illustrates the actor-observer bias because you (observer) attribute your friends' behavior to internal factors but your own (actor) behavior to situational factors (i.e., on an exam, if I were to give your exact example, the correct answer would be actor-observer bias and not FAE).
Dr. G
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