The fundamental attribution error

Yesterday, I made a really common psychological mistake, and it’s so frustrating because I studied this exact same thing multiple times in undergrad. But after watching this video, you better not make that mistake.

So I was gonna meet a friend for coffee, but traffic was so bad that I ended up getting there 10 minutes late. I was a bit frustrated at myself, but I was also like, “It’s fine. It wasn’t really my fault.”

Then my friend comes 15 minutes after me, and my first thought is, “Why is he always late?”

This is called the fundamental attribution error. The idea is that when you make a mistake, you blame your circumstances, but when someone else does, you blame their character.