What is the key claim of the ‘Fundamental Attribution Error’?

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Question restatement: What is the key claim of the ‘Fundamental Attribution Error’?

Option A: 'A. We assume that a person’s behaviour reflects their personality rather than the situation they are in.'
- This aligns with the core idea of the Fundamental Attribution Error (FAE): people tend to attribute others' actions to stable personality traits (dispositions) rather than to situational factors, especially when judging behavior from limited information. The emphasis is on dispositional attributions being overrepresented in explanations for others’ conduct.

Option B: 'B. We assume that a person’s behaviour reflects the situation they are in rather than their personality.'
- This describes a situational attribution rather than the FAE. The FAE is characterized by the opposite tendency, so this choice misstates the typical attribution bias.

Option C: 'C. We assume that strong situations will weaken or cancel out effects of personality, when they might in fact strengthen or activate effects of personality.'
- This mixes concepts. Strong situations can influence behavior and sometimes mask or reveal personality effects, but the Fundamental Attribution Error is about misattributing behavior to personality rather than to situation. This option discusses the interaction between situation strength and personality rather than the core attribution bias itself.

Option D: 'D. We assume that single instances of behaviour will be higher correlated when they are not.'
- This statement concerns the reliability or consistency of behavior across occasions (a psychometric or methodological concern), not about how we attribute causes of behavior. It does not capture the essence of FAE, which is about dispositional versus situational attributions.

Analytical summary: Each option contrasts dispositional versus situational explanations. The FAE centers on the tendency to explain others' actions primarily through internal personality factors rather than external circumstances, especially in everyday judgments. Options B, C, and D either invert this emphasis, describe a different interaction effect, or reference a methodological issue rather than attribution bias. The remaining option (A) directly encapsulates the dispositional attribution bias that is central to the Fundamental Attribution Error, even though the phrasing should be understood as describing the common misattribution pattern toward personality rather than situational causes.

To solidify understanding, consider an example: if a coworker volunteers late to a meeting, the FAE would lead many to infer they are lazy or uncommitted (a personality judgment) rather than considering external factors like traffic, scheduling errors, or an emergency that explain the delay. This illustrates why attributing behavior to disposition is viewed as the fundamental error in attribution processes.

PSYC20009_2025_SM2 Exam: Personality and Social Psychology (PSYC20009_2025_SM2)- Requires Respondus LockDown Browser

What is the key claim of the ‘Fundamental Attribution Error’?

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PSYC20009_2025_SM2 Exam: Personality and Social Psychology (PSYC20009_2025_SM2)- Requires Respondus LockDown Browser

What is the key claim of the ‘Fundamental Attribution Error’?

View Explanation

Log in for full answers

Similar Questions

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