Fundamental Attribution Error

This is a mental model , also known as correspondence bias or over-attribution effect .

The core idea is that people may attribute actions of a person to an inherent natural trait and not to the environment. An example is blaming the victim of a crime as if they had it coming.

Apparently, this bias is not present in all cultures. Individualistic societies, such as the Americans, show this behavior more often than Indians.

The original work also cites how actors judge success or failure differently. Success is based on their own skills and effort, while failure is blamed on external factors, such as luck and special circumstances.

Refs: - https://web.mit.edu/curhan/www/docs/Articles/15341_Readings/Social_Cognition/Ross_Intuitive_Psychologist_in_Adv_Experiment_Soc_Psych_vol10_p173.pdf - https://www.simplypsychology.org/fundamental-attribution.html