Fundamental Attribution Error

A tremendously important psychological tendency has an unfortunately opaque name: Fundamental Attribution Error. Briefly, the FAE says:

• when other people do something, especially something I don't like, they do it deliberately, by choice, because of their personality, with malice, etc.; but
• when I do something unworthy, it's because of circumstances, the situation, external reasons.

Quite an asymmetry in the blame game. As voluptuous cartoon character Jessica Rabbit says in the film Who Framed Roger Rabbit, "I'm not bad. I'm just drawn that way!"

(cf. SelectionEffects (1999-05-11), Impute Motives (2009-03-18), 2013-03-05 - McLean Loops, ...; and re FAE in politics, see Edsall who cites Tetlock & Mitchell, ...) - ^z - 2013-11-13