Which effect relates to the phenomenon where individuals attribute their behavior to situational factors while attributing others' behavior to their character?
Understand the Problem
The question is asking about a psychological phenomenon that describes how people perceive their own behaviors compared to the behaviors of others, specifically focusing on attributing causes to situational factors versus character traits.
Answer
The fundamental attribution error.
The effect is known as the fundamental attribution error.
Answer for screen readers
The effect is known as the fundamental attribution error.
More Information
The fundamental attribution error highlights a bias where people tend to overemphasize personality-based explanations for others' behaviors while undervaluing situational influences. This effect shows the common human tendency to favor internal attributions over external situational factors in others' actions, while doing the opposite when assessing their behavior.
Tips
A common mistake is confusing the fundamental attribution error with the actor-observer bias, which also involves situational attributions but encompasses different perspectives depending on who is judging the behavior.
Sources
- The Fundamental Attribution Error - Ethics Unwrapped - ethicsunwrapped.utexas.edu
- Fundamental attribution error - Wikipedia - en.wikipedia.org