Fundamental Attribution Error
Never Ask a Writer If the Novel is Autobiagraphical
Also known as
- Correspondence Bias
- Attribution Effect
The tendency to overestimate individuals’ influence and underestimate external, situational factors.
The tendency for people to under-emphasize situational and environmental explanations for an individual’s observed behavior while over-emphasizing dispositional and personality-based explanations. This effect has been described as “the tendency to believe that what people do reflects who they are”, that is, to overattribute their behaviors (what they do or say) to their personality and underattribute them to the situation or context.
The error is in seeing someone’s actions as solely reflective of their personality rather than somewhat reflective of it and also largely prompted by circumstances. It involves a type of circular reasoning in which the answer to the question “why would they do that” is only “because they would do that.”
We shouldn’t judge those guilty of the fundamental attribution error too harshly. Our preoccupation with other people stems from our evolutionary past: belonging to a group was necessary for survival.