Fundamental Attribution Error

We overestimate personal character as the cause of others' behavior and underestimate the power of situational and contextual forces.

• We see someone cut in line and label them rude — unaware they just received a call that their child was in an accident.
• In Zimbardo's Stanford Prison Experiment, ordinary students became brutal guards within days — the situation, not character, drove the behavior.
• We praise a soldier's heroism without examining whether the situation simply made cowardice impossible or more costly than bravery.