Fundamental attribution error (social psychology)
Fundamental attribution error (FAE) is a concept in social psychology that describes the tendency of individuals to overemphasize personality traits while underestimating situational influences when interpreting the actions of others. This misattribution often leads people to assume negative behaviors stem from character flaws rather than external circumstances. For instance, when witnessing someone break a traffic rule, an observer may label them as reckless, ignoring the possibility that they were in an urgent situation, such as rushing to help someone in need.
The term was popularized by social psychologist Lee Ross in the 1970s, building on earlier observations by researchers like Gustav Ichheiser and Fritz Heider. Studies show that while people frequently make these judgments about others, they tend to apply more situational reasoning when reflecting on their own behavior. Cultural factors also play a significant role in FAE, as individualistic societies often promote the idea of personal accountability, leading to a greater likelihood of attributing behaviors to personality rather than context. This phenomenon has implications for social discussions around issues such as poverty or health, where individuals may mistakenly attribute need to personal failings rather than situational challenges. Understanding FAE can foster empathy and awareness of how external factors may influence behavior, encouraging more compassionate perspectives.
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Fundamental attribution error (social psychology)
Fundamental attribution error, or FAE, is a psychological concept that refers to the tendency of people to overestimate the effect of personality and underestimate the effect of circumstances in viewing another person's behavior. This tendency is sometimes called attribution effect or correspondence bias. While behavior can be the result of a personality trait, such as conscientiousness or laziness, fundamental attribution error can result in false judgments and misplaced anger or frustration when a person's actions have been influenced by circumstance and not personality.
Background
In the 1950s, social psychologists Gustav Ichheiser and Fritz Heider began conducting research into how individuals viewed the behavior of other people. They soon observed certain patterns. People who saw someone do something they viewed as negative, such as not stopping at a red light, were likely to say the person ignored the light because they were inconsiderate of others or thought too much of themselves. It was far less likely that the observer would consider that the person went through the light because they were late for a flight or rushing to the hospital to say goodbye to a dying loved one.
Throughout the next several decades, researchers continued to look at the ways people judged others. Much of this research focused on why people so often misjudged the motivation for the conduct of others. In 1977, Lee Ross, a social psychologist from Stanford University, named the tendency to blame a person's character rather than the situation when observing behavior. He called it a fundamental attribution error, meaning that the observer was mistakenly attributing the behavior to the wrong cause.
Overview
Ross and other researchers have observed that people are much more likely to say that another person's behavior—especially their seemingly negative behavior—is the result of something in the person's character or personality. At the same time, these observers tend to downplay or discount the effects of circumstances on the person's behavior. The researchers have noted that while not everyone engages in fundamental attribution errors as a matter of course, nearly everyone does it at least occasionally.
The researchers have also noted that people do not apply these same generalizations to themselves as often as they do to others. For instance, a person may say that someone who drops a tray of beverages was careless without considering factors such as the tray possibly being bumped or the items on the tray being placed so that it was off balance. However, if that person is the one who drops the tray, it is more likely that they will say that they were bumped or the tray was loaded unevenly. Researchers have not determined if this is a self-protective response, or if it is because the person has better information about the reason behind the event.
Sometimes the observer's personal experience and behavior tendencies affect how the conduct of others is viewed. For instance, someone who is very meticulous about maintaining the lawn and who lets nothing get in the way of tending to it might be more likely to say that a neighbor's overgrown grass is due to laziness. Instead of considering the possibility that the neighbor has a health condition that makes yard care difficult or that the neighbor's lawnmower is being repaired, the observer assumes that their own behavior—letting nothing interfere with the yard care—is the standard. In this case, the observer is inferring a reason for the neighbor's behavior based on their own personality; they know that the only reason he would let their yard go untended would be laziness, so they are assuming that is the neighbor's reason as well. This is sometimes called a correspondence bias, because the observer infers a corresponding reason for the other person's behavior based on the observer's own personality. However, some psychologists differentiate a correspondence bias from fundamental attribution error by defining correspondence bias as the tendency to assume a character trait from behavior and fundamental attribution error as giving precedence to personality over circumstance as a cause of behavior.
Researchers have noted that culture plays a role in how one sees the actions of another. For example, in the United States and other societies where individualism is valued and promoted, an observer is likely to assume that the individual bears all responsibility for their actions and attribute a person's behavior to personality. In cultures where society as a whole is valued over the individual, it is more likely that the person's situation will be considered as a motivator for behavior.
Some researchers believe that this tendency to see the individual as solely responsible for behavior is the basis for fundamental attribution errors. People who live in societies that place a high value on individual rights and responsibilities and that hold a belief system where individual accomplishments are encouraged and applauded are more likely to assume that all behavior is within the individual's control. Observers in these societies are less likely to consider that some type of circumstance affected the person's behavior.
These beliefs and the fundamental attribution errors that result are often part of the discussion surrounding many national issues, such as whether any group of people should receive help with food, health needs, or education. For example, those who argue that those who are in need of such help are shiftless may be engaging in fundamental attribution error if they are not considering that circumstances beyond the person's control may have led to need. Researchers theorize that the notion of personal responsibility that is at the core of some societies may significantly influence the way people view others. In that case, the assumption that the person can always control their individual behavior regardless of circumstances arises out of both an adherence to that concept of individuality and an unconscious desire to protect the same concept.
Bibliography
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Winkler, Kathrin. "Fundamental Attribution Error Correction." Forbes, 30 Jan. 2014, www.forbes.com/sites/emc/2014/01/30/fundamental-attribution-error-correction/#142436a23b4e. Accessed 9 Jan. 2017.