Fundamental Attribution Error Research Paper

In social psychology, … The fundamental attribution error is a personal attribution bias everyday people often commit in society. As everyday people commit the fundamental attribution error, they fail to recognize how harmful it is to those affected. Everyday people can become more aware of and plan to reduce the harmfulness the fundamental attribution error presents through message complexity and attention.
Notably, the fundamental attribution error is a personal bias that is problematic in society. To emphasize, the fundamental attribution error is when individuals have the tendency to attribute people’s behavior to components of their character or personality, even when situational influences are producing the behavior (Textbook, page 171). An example of the fundamental attribution error operating in daily life is when a driver avoids hitting a pedestrian and causes an accident. In this case, an individual driving along would attribute the driver’s personality as reckless when the driver did not cause the accident directly, it was the pedestrian who did not use the crosswalk when crossing the busy roadway. In …show more content…
Message complexity includes the quality of the evidence and the preciseness of the conclusions in the message itself (Textbook, page 288). Message complexity persuasively works by providing a high-quality, simple or complex message depending on the medium. In general, high-quality messages allow everyday people … Also, simple messages are more effective on television while complex messages are more effective in print (Persuasion lecture, March 1, 2016). Attention includes how the medium conveying the message is appealing to everyday people. Attention can be persuasively used by placing the medium near a medium less interesting in order to draw more attention (Persuasion lecture, March 1,