- Today, we are going to talk about the important concept
fundamental attribution error,
and why I think that every professional
should know about this.
So let's get into the details.
(electronic tones)
Alex Lyon here, and if we're just meeting,
everything on this channel is here for your
professional development and leadership development.
And to me, the fundamental attribution error is a concept
that every emerging leader should have in their toolbox.
I'm going to tell you about an expression
that goes with this that I learned awhile back
that really changed things for me.
And the expression is good person, bad day.
I'll explain more about that toward the end of the video,
so stick around.
To be clear, this video is meant to give
just a foundation of theory, but my goal is always
to be really practical on this channel.
So that's the tone that we're approaching this with.
So here's a little bit of background.
The fundamental attribution error is part of a
larger theory called attribution theory
that you may have heard of.
Lee Ross first wrote about this in an article published in
Advancements In Experimental and Social Psychology.
Lee Ross was looking for a way to explain
how people draw inferences and assign causes
to other people's behavior.
So we look at the way somebody is behaving,
and we attribute or interpret the driving force
behind their decisions and their actions.
And that's where the fundamental attribution error comes in.
This term describes how people sometimes overemphasize
another person's internal character and intentions
to explain their behavior rather than attributing
their behavior to some external forces
or situations that they're in.
So if something undesirable happens,
say, you didn't hand in an important project on time,
I might attribute your behavior to some character flaw
or trait that I then believe that you have.
I might say, for example,
oh, they're bad at time management.
That's why they didn't finish their project.
I'm attributing an internal cause to your behavior.
I interpret your actions as a problem with your disposition,
not your situation.
But there could be an external explanation,
some situational reason that you didn't complete
your project on time.
Maybe you were legitimately caught up doing something else
that we even more important, for example,
like responding to real emergency.
But the fundamental attribution error explains how
I tend to blame you.
I tend to blame your internal qualities.
But you'll notice that we don't
really do this for ourselves.
If somebody asks you, for example,
why you didn't hand a project in on time,
I seriously doubt you would respond by saying,
"Well, it really comes down to this.
"I'm lazy and I don't care."
We don't say that.
We look at our own behavior,
and then we tend to blame external causes,
like, there was a traffic accident,
and I had to pull some people from a burning car,
or some kind of external situation.
So the question is, is this concept accurate?
Do people generally make the fundamental attribution error
when judging other people?
And I will answer that question in a minute.
But first, I would like to say that I find this concept
to be very practical because it helps me explain
the way I at least sometimes think.
So let's look at three common situations
that you might see in the workplace,
and we'll see how the fundamental attribution error
may play a role.
Situation one, a person you work with is detached
and does not engage much at meetings.
If you attribute his action to his internal qualities,
you might believe he's snobby or not a team player.
But maybe there is an external cause.
Maybe his life outside of work is really hard right now.
Maybe, for example, he's an only child,
and his parent's health is failing,
and he's trying to take care of them,
and that zaps him of most of his energy.
So he comes across as disengaged at work.
That's what really might be happening.
Scenario two, a person on your team is often late to work.
If you attribute her lateness to internal causes,
you might assume she's lazy,
doesn't respect other people's time.
But maybe the real situation is she shares a car
with her husband and she can't drop him off
until his work opens, and that then makes her late.
Scenario three, a person on your team might work
more slowly than the others,
and you could assume that this means that he doesn't care.
But in reality it could be that he had a severe concussion
a few years ago and maybe he used to be
a really quick worker, but now working fast
gives him severe headaches.
So what he's really doing is trying to pace himself,
and that's the best he can do.
So there's three situations.
And if we had attributed internal causes
to their behavior we would be then guilty
of making the fundamental attribution error.
And by the way, all three of these situations
are true stories.
I know three actual people who have had to cope
with these situations.
So now back to the question.
Is this concept predictive?
Do people really tend to do this more often than not?
And the answer is yes and no.
Some early research says that we tend to make
the fundamental attribution error
when we're looking at other people's behavior.
But other research says not really.
We don't typically blame a person's internal qualities.
We do see that external causes play a role too.
So the research results are mixed.
But now I'll give you my personal view on this.
It may not be reliably predictive research,
but for me, just knowing about the concept is very helpful.
For example, if I'm ever tempted to think negatively
about another person's character, I might catch myself.
I've literally said to myself,
well, you know, I may not know the specific reason
they acted that way, but I'm sure there is a reason.
And that has really helped me
not evaluate other people too harshly.
And that brings me back to that expression
that I mentioned earlier at the beginning.
The expression is good person, bad day.
I believe I first heard this in Caroline Webb's
awesome book "How To Have A Good Day".
I'm not entirely sure where that's I first read it,
and I have heard about it since.
So it may be out there in other places,
but either way, the point is that sometimes
I say this to myself when I see someone acting a bit off.
I say to myself, I think to myself,
well, I'm not sure what's going on,
but we all have our bad days.
In other words, good person, bad day.
So to me, whether the fundamental attribution error
is predictive or not, in terms of research,
that's really not the most important question.
The concept still is very helpful,
because we all absolutely do this at least sometimes.
And knowing about the concept helps,
because we can then catch ourselves,
and instead have empathy for the possible external
situations people might be facing in any given case.
So question of the day, do you think this concept is useful
for you professionally?
I would love to hear your comments
in that section below the video.
And before we go, I want to tell you
about a free resource that I created.
It's a PDF download on the Essential Professional
Communication Skills that I believe
every working professional should have.
I will put a link in the description below,
and I will also pin it to the first comment
in the Comments section so you can go
and download that and check that out.
So thanks, God bless, and I will see you in the next video.