In social psychology, the fundamental attribution error is a cognitive attribution bias in which observers underemphasize situational and environmental factors for the behavior of an actor while overemphasizing dispositional or personality factors. In other words, observers tend to overattribute the behaviors of others to their personality (e.g., he is late because he’s selfish) and underattribute them to the situation or context (e.g., he is late because he got stuck in traffic).
exactly. so read it carefully, think about it for a minute, and then answer the question:
are you saying there were some outside factors that forced the man’s decision to buy the car and it was not in fact his own personality that made the choice?
if the answer is yes, then the comic is indeed an example of quoted bias. the problem is it is clearly not, so… bullshit.
You’re making that exact same fundamental attribution error, just at one layer deeper. Instead of assuming that they’re a bad driver, you’re assuming that it was their personal choice to buy that car. We don’t know anything about their life situation, or their circumstances.
Here’s some example outside factors to ponder:
Financial issues; it’s the only car they could afford
They got scammed at an auction via undisclosed mechanical issues and are in the process of correcting the issue
They’re driving their friend’s car home after taking them to hospital
The car spontaneously developed this issue out of nowhere
was he forced to buy unreliable midlife crisis car by some outside factors other than his own decision?
exactly. so read it carefully, think about it for a minute, and then answer the question:
are you saying there were some outside factors that forced the man’s decision to buy the car and it was not in fact his own personality that made the choice?
if the answer is yes, then the comic is indeed an example of quoted bias. the problem is it is clearly not, so… bullshit.
You’re making that exact same fundamental attribution error, just at one layer deeper. Instead of assuming that they’re a bad driver, you’re assuming that it was their personal choice to buy that car. We don’t know anything about their life situation, or their circumstances.
Here’s some example outside factors to ponder: