Imagine you are driving down the busy streets of your local downtown. Today, the area is extremely packed with people but you are careful to check every intersection, crosswalk, and corner. Peeking out from a neighborhood opening, a car is stopped at the stop sign, signaling to turn into your lane. You take for granted they will, like the laws of the road insist, wait for you to pass as you have the right of way. To your dismay, they speed up into the main road, causing a head-on collision with you and totaling the front of your new car. You shout to yourself with frustration, “What a bad driver!”

In this instance, you could be entirely wrong. The driver could be skilled, but you quickly judge the incident and attribute it to their characteristics. This scenario is what social psychologist Lee Ross would call the fundamental attribution error.

It's Their Fault

Fundamental attribution error (FAE) is attributing an event to someone’s personality or characteristics. Some people might be considered lazy for their tardiness or lack of participation in school. When someone messes up, we’re quick to conclude that it is their fault and it is because of who they are. On the other hand, we are quick to justify the situation when we make mistakes.

Illustration by Lakshmi Mani depicting our bias over the result of a situation due to a single attribute

FAE often emerges as a consequence of how we perceive the world around us. This habit of attributing events to someone’s personality is part of a phenomenon influenced by societal structures. It is commonly found in individualistic societies like the United States. The emphasis on autonomy and individual responsibility can encourage assumptions. As Harvard writer Patrick Healy mentions, “The fundamental attribution error exists because of how people perceive the world.” In cultures where the individual is celebrated over the harmony of a group or relationships, people are quick to draw conclusions.

Imagine the driver of your car crash doesn’t come out to figure out the situation with you. You knock on their door and realize they are unresponsive. Once you get help, the first responders tell you the driver had a heart attack at the wheel. Hence, they let go of the brake that held them away from the traffic and collided with you. Your frustration subsides, and you no longer regard them as a “bad” driver. You learn to fully assess the situation with new clues: the driver had a heart attack, causing the accident.

So Who’s Fault Is It?

Legally, it is their fault

It isn’t your fault, right? If you begin to doubt yourself, shake out of the thought. The steps to realizing the error in judgment we make do not include flipping sides and putting yourself down. You might begin thinking you’re the poor driver and attribute your situational negative outcomes to your internal factors.

After the car accident, you might ask yourself, “Am I a bad driver? Am I a bad person for assuming?” Realizing that you experienced FAE can lead to self-reflection and potentially feelings of doubt. Being tangled up in your thoughts can be a complicated situation. If you recognize your bad habit, you might question the accuracy of your perceptions and assumptions.

These are the steps to realizing your cognitive biases and working on them. You must find the understanding that the world is not black and white. We cannot attribute a single characteristic or event to a person and make it their personality. That includes yourself and those around you. Practice emotional intelligence by letting your mind take time to assess situations. With empathy and self-awareness, you will be able to stop assuming the worst in people.

Why Step on the Brakes?

Stopping yourself before attributing negative opinions to people can benefit you and those around you. In Healy’s article about FAE, the author finds that preventing this cognitive bias can make you a better manager and help your work and personal relationships.

Once you become more aware, less stress comes down to blaming your frustration on someone, and you have more energy to assess the present problem. Instead of yelling at your subordinates when they make a mistake in a client order, you can take the same period to rethink the solution and help prevent a more disastrous event.

In our fast daily lives, it is easy to fall for the FAE trap. As we navigate through our lives, it is important to recognize that situations and people are complex. Remember to pause before passing judgment and consider a multitude of factors that contribute to an incident. The crash on the road may not just be the result of a “bad driver.” Break the cycle of fundamental attribution error and embrace a more understanding perspective. In doing so, we better our lives and partake in a society of empathy and cooperation.