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

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Vanessa is attributing the student's clumsiness to an internal, stable trait (i.e. being a klutz) rather than considering external factors, such as the student being in a rush or the doorway being crowded. This is an example of the fundamental attribution error, where we tend to overemphasize dispositional explanations for behavior rather than situational ones.

When the Student in Front of Her Bumped the Edge