Fallacy Friday #2! The Fundamental Attribution Error

Simply put. It's our tendency to believe what other people do reflects who they are.

A more detailed scientific definition would be:" the claim that in contrast to interpretations of their own behavior, people place undue emphasis on internal characteristics of the agent (character or intention), rather than external factors, in explaining other people's behavior." Well try telling that on a birthday party.

So what?

Most people believe that a lot of their own behaviour is influenced by external factors. But these same people state that other people’s behaviour is often just due to internal factors. "I'm late because there was a traffic jam" vs. "He's always late, that's just the way he is". And it works the other way as well. When someone else is getting a reward for something, people often tend to attribute this to external factors. "She just got lucky". However, once we ourselves have done something well, then we often attribute our own succes strictly to personal traits. "I played that well didn't I".

When and where does it happen?

Let's say you get cut off in traffic. Most of the time you will, at once, judge this person as being rude and misbehaved. Where it could be possible that he wasn't paying attention, almost missed the exit or was having an emergency at home. Another example would be in a more personal domain. Let say you feel you are not good looking enough and as a result you haven't been able to find a date for a while. But it could be more likely that this low self esteem is actually keeping you from going out frequently. And with this reduced chance of actually meeting people you missed out on meeting that someone special. So you miss attributed that result (not having a date) to the wrong cause (the belief that you don't look good enough). Where the actual reason was you just didn't get to meet enough other people.

What can I do about it?

• Be aware that what you perceive can have different causes and contexts than what you think.
• Try to switch roles. Put your self in someone else's shoes.
• Ask for explanations. Don't ever assume. No, not even now.

That's it. So next time you think someone has done something good or bad. Ask yourself why. Or better the just ask them.

Show me the Science!

• The classic demonstration of this bias was done by Jones and Harris (1967).
• The concept of the attribution error was first described by Ross (1977) .
• The existence of this effect has been supported by hundreds of studies.