Sterling: Applying the Fundamental Attribution Error
In social psychology, one of the most interesting and impactful topics I learned about was the fundamental attribution error. One can quickly attribute a person’s behavior strictly to the individual and dismiss any other contributing factors, making it easy to treat that individual differently. One time, I was working with three other group members to write a group paper. When divided up, it equaled about three pages each. One group member did not write any of his pages, and the rest of us had to cover for him—we were all a bit frustrated and thought he was just lazy. Afterward, we ended up learning that he was working full-time 40 hours a week and we automatically felt guilty for feeling frustrated. We just wished we had all communicated better and had better understood his personal situation—something that would probably help in most situations where individuals make the fundamental attribution error.