#78: Perceptual errors at work - part 2

Behavior can be caused by an almost infinite number of factors. But because we are mentally lazy, we tend to focus on only two: whether the behavior stemmed from internal factors or external causes.

This mental laziness triggers the second in our series on perceptual errors, namely the fundamental attribution error: We tend to explain other people's behavior in terms of internal (or dispositional) causes rather than in terms of external (or situational) causes.

For example, when you see someone trip you are more likely to perceive that person as clumsy rather than to assume that she tripped over some physical object. Yet, if you tripped in the street, you would blame it on an external cause, not on being clumsy.

We do this because we take the easy way. We focus on peoples’ overt actions, while treating the context in which the action takes place as less important.


I’m james@nonsenseatwork.com

Copyright: 2007 James Henry McIntosh

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