What Is the Fundamental Attribution Error? Discuss the Cultural Influences

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--Fundamental attribution error refers to the tendency to overestimate the impact of dispositional influences on others' behaviour.By dispositional influences,we mean enduring characteristics,such as personality traits,attitudes,and intelligence.Because of this error,we attribute too much of people's behaviour to who they are.
--Because of the fundamental attribution error,we also tend to underestimate the impact of situational influences on others' behaviour,so we also attribute too little of people's behaviour to what's going on around them.We may assume incorrectly that a boss in a failing company who fired several of his loyal employees to save money must be callous,when in fact he was under enormous pressure to rescue his company and spare the jobs of hundreds of other loyal employees.
--The fundamental attribution error is associated with cultural factors.Although almost everyone is prone to this error,Japanese and Chinese people seem to be less so.That may be because they're more likely than those in Western cultures to perceive behaviours in context.As a result,they may be more prone to seeing others' behaviour as a complex stew of both dispositional and situational influences.For example,after reading newspaper descriptions of mass murderers,Chinese subjects are considerably less likely to invoke dispositional explanations for their behaviour ("He must be an evil person")and more likely to invoke situational explanations for their behaviour ("He must have been under terrible stress in his life").In contrast,American subjects tend to show the opposite pattern.

What Is the Fundamental Attribution Error? Discuss the Cultural Influences

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What Is the Fundamental Attribution Error? Discuss the Cultural Influences

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