The fundamental attribution error: person or situation?

In short: The fundamental attribution error describes the tendency to explain other people’s behaviour mainly by their character and to underestimate the circumstances. The psychologist Lee Ross coined the term in 1977.

In more detail: When someone pushes in, we quickly think “What an inconsiderate person” rather than considering a possible emergency. For ourselves, on the other hand, we tend to see the situation as the cause. How strong the effect is varies between cultures and situations.

In detail

• Attribution: This is what psychology calls assigning causes, for example “He is lazy” (person) or “He didn’t have time” (situation).
• Classic study: In Edward Jones and Victor Harris (1967), participants thought the authors of essays believed in what they had written, even though they knew the position had been assigned.
• Actor-observer difference: We tend to explain our own mistakes by circumstances and other people’s by their personality.
• Self-serving bias: Many people credit successes to themselves and blame failures on external circumstances (kognitive-verzerrungen).
• Cultural differences: Studies suggest that people in more community-oriented cultures take situations into account more strongly.
• Consequences in everyday life: Hasty judgements about colleagues, classmates or strangers can make conflicts worse (konflikte-am-arbeitsplatz-loesen).
• Remedy: Ask yourself deliberately, “What circumstances could explain this behaviour?” and ask questions instead of making assumptions.
• Not excusing everything: Considering the situation does not mean denying responsibility but getting a more complete picture (kommunikation-vier-ohren-modell).