Fundamental Attribution Error
The fundamental attribution error is the tendency to overemphasize personal traits and underemphasize situational factors when judging others' behavior. This cognitive bias was first identified by social psychologists Lee Ross and Edward E. Jones in the 1970s.
Background
The fundamental attribution error (FAE) is a social psychology concept describing people's tendency to explain others' actions by pointing to their personality ("they're a rude person") while underestimating situational factors ("they're rushing to the hospital"). Coined by Stanford psychologist Lee Ross in 1977, the FAE builds on a 1967 experiment by Jones & Harris showing that people attributed an essay's content to the writer's genuine belief even when the writer had been assigned that position. Also called "correspondence bias," it's a key idea in attribution theory. Notably, the effect is stronger in individualistic Western cultures than in collectivist East Asian ones, suggesting it is not truly universal or "fundamental."