A Brief Note On The Fundamental Attribution Error

Cultural differences in the Fundamental Attribution Error.

In social psychology, the attribution theory attempts to justify that every individual’s behaviour is motivated and intended, people are naive psychologists who aim to understand the social world. They are keen to know the reason for every action and event and why they take place (Heider; 1958). Some individuals prefer to attribute behaviour to a person’s character, whereas others attribute action to the circumstances ( Bastian & Haslam, 2006; Robins et al.; 2004). But, imposing cultural differences in judging the attribution of individuals is not a fundamental notion. Moreover, people belonging to any nationality or culture rather go for individualistic judgement or other persons

It is prevalent in individualist cultures, for instance, as in the United States, where individuals are recognised as self-dependent. As children grow up in Western culture, they determine the behaviour of other people by their personal characteristics ( Rholes et al, 1990; Ross, 1981). When interpreting individuals behaviour, in the west they undervalue the influence of the situation and consider the individual’s traits and attitudes (Jellison & Green, 1981). People in Eastern Asian cultures give more attention and priority to the situations; it is a highly collectivist culture in which people point out to the situational factors over the individual and they are not prone to fundamental attribution error. They hardly accept that others behaviour relies on their personality and characteristics ( Choi et al, 1999; Farwell & Weiner, 2000; Masuda & Kitayama,

Likewise, Markus and Kitayama (1991) make an incomplete assumption about correlation within cultural groups; they suggested that the members of a given group have been more exposed and have operated within a given cultural frame than the members of the different group. These studies and many other contain an underlying logic that can be explored further, in this view the culture follow the influences of individual interpretation and these in turn influence all aspects of behaviour.
We can observe the implicit theories and research provides a way to study the social perception of individual and groups. Implicit theories and cultural psychology enable us to understand the “Fundamental Attribution Error” by offering new insight which clears the judging attribution patterns of individual and groups. Morris and Peng (1994;1995) also suggested that Americans and Chinese though from distinctive culture and orientation may react same when put under certain conditions though perceived follows the general