Culture and the fundamental attribution error In the United States, people often commit the fundamental attribution error; they attribute behavior to personal characteristics and underestimate the influence of situational factors (e.g., one might wonder, “What was that crazy driver thinking to drive the bus on a muddy road?”) Cross-cultural research shows that people in India are more likely to attribute behavior to social circumstances and thus are less likely to commit the attribution error (e.g., someone in India might think it was the driver’s duty to try to navigate the bus along a route determined by others in a position of authority).