When the student in front of her bumped the edge of the doorway and dropped most of her books in the classroom doorway, Vanessa immediately thought to herself, "What a klutz!" Vanessa's response illustrates the fundamental attribution error.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Vanessa's immediate assumption that the student is a "klutz" suggests that she is attributing the cause of the student's behavior to a dispositional (internal) factor rather than considering situational (external) factors that may have caused the student to drop her books. This is a classic example of the fundamental attribution error.

When the Student in Front of Her Bumped the Edge