Can you provide an every-day example of the Fundamental Attribution Error? The Fundamental Attribution Error occurs when we fail to recognize the situational causes of someone's behavior, and instead assume the causes are primarily dispositional. Many student have had this experience: you turn in an assignment late and get a speech from your teacher about how your disorganization got you in trouble again. You think to yourself, "No, the assignment is late because I had play practice every night until 7 this week, and a test in chemistry, a paper due in English, and a 3 hour visit with the doctor to have allergy testing done." You have just been a victim of the Fundamental Attribution Error. The teacher blamed your behavior on a disposition: your disorganization. You are aware of all the situational things -- other commitments and assignments -- that led to the behavior. How can sexual and racial discrimination be reduced in the work place? There are many strategies that can be used to help reduce discrimination in the work place. Perhaps most important is for clear norms about what is acceptable behavior to be established, for these norms to be meaningfully endorsed by people in power, and for consequences for breaking the norms to be clear. Many problems arise over the definition of discrimination: one person's racist comment is another's idea of a joke. Also, a "non-discrimination" policy on paper has little meaning if it is not routinely and visibly enforced. It is also important that groups within the workplace not be segregated along race or gender lines. If all the janitors are minorities and office personnel are white, stereotyped positions are only reinforced. | 
2002 McGraw-Hill Higher Education