The fundamental attribution error is a cognitive bias in which observers explaining another person's behavior overemphasize that person's internal disposition or character and underemphasize the external, situational factors that shaped it. The bias is strongest when judging others; people are considerably more willing to credit their own behavior to circumstances. The social psychologist Lee Ross named and analyzed the pattern in 1977, building on the earlier 1967 experiment by Edward Jones and Victor Harris, in which observers still attributed a debater's assigned position to genuine personal belief.
Facts
Core ClaimWhen explaining someone else's behavior, observers tend to overweight that person's personality and underweight the situation the person was actually in. 1 First Described Year Classification
Type of Phenomenon Connections
Associated With
The same asymmetry in attributing behavior to disposition versus situation underlies both; the cited source treats them as directly connected accounts.
Source Wikipedia: Actor-Observer Asymmetry
In Branch
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Fundamental Attribution Error
Wikimedia FoundationLead section
the fundamental attribution error is a cognitive attribution bias in which observers underemphasize situational and environmental factors for the behavior of an actor while overemphasizing dispositional or personality factors
Origin, Etymology section
The phrase was coined by Lee Ross 10 years after an experiment by Edward E. Jones and Victor Harris in 1967.
lead section, phenomenon-kind classification
The fundamental attribution error is a cognitive bias in which observers explaining another person's behavior overemphasize that person's internal disposition or character and underemphasize the external, situational factors that shaped it.
Wikipedia: Actor-Observer Asymmetry
Wikimedia FoundationAssociated With: Actor-Observer Asymmetry, article bodyQuote, Associated With: Actor-Observer Asymmetry, article body
Sometimes, the actor-observer asymmetry is defined as the fundamental attribution error, defined as when people tend to explain behavior using internal, personal characteristics rather than the external factors or situational influences.
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