Okuzeka
Psychology vocabulary · Social Psychology

Fundamental attribution error

Meaning in psychology, with examples

nounCommon term

In psychology, fundamental attribution error means: The tendency to explain other people's behaviour by their personality or character while underestimating the influence of the situation they are in.

In Turkish: temel yükleme hatası, temel atıf hatası

How it is used

A classic concept from attribution theory, named by Lee Ross in 1977 and also called correspondence bias. It is often contrasted with the actor-observer bias and is thought to be stronger in individualistic cultures.

Example sentences

  1. Assuming a late colleague is lazy rather than stuck in traffic is a typical fundamental attribution error.

  2. The fundamental attribution error can affect how clinicians judge clients who miss appointments.

Common collocations

  • make the fundamental attribution error
  • attribution theory
  • correspondence bias
  • situational factors
  • cognitive biasA systematic error in thinking or judgement that makes people depart from logic or evidence in predictable ways, such as confirmation bias.
  • attitudeA fairly lasting evaluation of a person, group, object or idea that combines beliefs, feelings and a tendency to act in a positive or negative way.
  • stereotypeA simplified, widely shared belief about the characteristics of people in a particular group, applied to individuals regardless of who they really are.
  • heuristicA mental shortcut or rule of thumb that allows quick judgements and decisions with little effort, but can lead to systematic errors.

More terms: Social Psychology

Practise with graded reading

Reading at the right level is the fastest way to make new words stick. Pick free English books by level:

This page explains English vocabulary for learners. It is not medical advice.