While eating at a restaurant, you see a waiter's serving tray tilt and an avalanche of food and beverages splatters on four people. "What a careless, clumsy idiot," you mumble to yourself as you resume eating. You have just committed an attributional bias called:

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The fundamental attribution error is the tendency to overemphasize internal traits or characteristics in explaining someone else's behavior, rather than considering external situational factors. In this scenario, the person is attributing the waiter's mistake to being a "careless, clumsy idiot" without taking into account any external situational factors that may have contributed to the accident, such as a slippery floor or a heavy load on the tray.

While Eating at a Restaurant, You See a Waiter's Serving