The Fundamental Attribution Error, also known as correspondence bias or the over-attribution effect, is the tendency for people to over-emphasize dispositional or personality-based explanations for behaviors observed in others while under-emphasizing the situational explanations. More simply put, people tend to have a cognitive bias to assume that a persons actions depend on what kind of a person they are rather than the social and environmental forces that influence that person.
The Fundamental Attribution Error can significantly influence how people, including ourselves, judge others. Thus, it is extremely important to understand it, and the ways in which it can perpetrate our distorted cognitions without our conscious awareness.
Generally, we form impressions of others character based on pieces of the situation, and we never see the whole picture. While it would be ideal to give people the benefit of the doubt, our brains tend to use the limited information we have to make judgements. It can be seen in any and all misunderstandings in which human motivations have the potential to be misinterpreted.
For example, an employee may be late to an important event and thus be seen as “lazy”, with fellow coworkers inclined to form a judgement of their character based on the one action alone. However, it is possible that their behavior was due to several external, rather than internal, factors. For example, any number of situational factors could have caused them to run behind schedule, such as a traffic jam or a family emergency, which have nothing to do with the quality of their character. In perceiving this person as lazy however, your opinions of them may begin to shift over time, and unless an opportunity rises for you to get to know them better, you may always view them in a negative light.
So how do we overcome this error of thinking? One suggestion by Harvard Business Online is to enhance our emotional intelligence. This involves “practicing self-awareness, empathy, self-regulation, and other methods of becoming more objective in the service of ones long term interests and the interests of others” (Healy, 2008). Practicing empathy, in particular, such as having discussions with others about their opinions is a good first step. They note that while it is impossible to overcome completely, with a combination of awareness and some tools and tactics we may become more gracious and empathetic of others. This will allow us to acknowledge cognitive biases such as the Fundamental Attribution Error, and we can make conscious efforts to limit its effects.
References
Healy, P. (2017, June 08). Fundamental Attribution Error: What It Is & How to Avoid It. Retrieved December 01, 2020, from https://online.hbs.edu/blog/post/the-fundamental-attribution-error
The fundamental attribution error is definitely something that could be harmful in our society. Of course, it is pretty difficult as human beings to not jump to conclusions or make strong judgements as soon as they come into our minds. For some, having empathy and self-awareness are things that come easy to them, but not so much for others. I feel like lessening or totally getting rid of the fundamental attribution error could be very difficult for a multitude of reasons.
One of the biggest claims against the fundamental attribution error is that this mainly occurs when someone is not completely aware of the situation at hand. Your example of perceiving someone as lazy or having a bad attitude because of their personality but is actually because of something such as a traffic jam is a good one to explain how we make the judgements based off of our own thoughts. However, research has proven that people will often show the fundamental attribution error even when they’re completely aware of a situation (“Fundamental Attribution Error”).
But why is this the case? FAE could be promoted by many things, such as our mood, our lack of mental resources, or even just simply ignoring the situation because we want to (“Fundamental Attribution Error”). I think that because of this and the fact that some people may not be willing to make a change in their judgmental personalities, it would be quite difficult to rid of the fundamental attribution error completely.
Fundamental Attribution Error – Biases & Heuristics. (2020, November 23). Retrieved December 15, 2020, from https://thedecisionlab.com/biases/fundamental-attribution-error/