Question at position 13 Your new roommate leaves dirty laundry all over her room and you assume she must be a slob. You ignore the fact that she is currently taking finals and working 40 hours per week. You are making a(n)availability errorfundamental attribution erroruniversality mistakeconfirmation biasavailability heuristic单项选择题
A
availability error
B
fundamental attribution error
C
universality mistake
D
confirmation bias
E
availability heuristic

Question

Question at position 13 Your new roommate leaves dirty laundry all over her room and you assume she must be a slob. You ignore the fact that she is currently taking finals and working 40 hours per week. You are making a(n)availability errorfundamental attribution erroruniversality mistakeconfirmation biasavailability heuristic单项选择题

A

availability error

B

fundamental attribution error

C

universality mistake

D

confirmation bias

E

availability heuristic

BlackTom AI · Accepted Answer

Fundamental attribution error describes the tendency to explain someone else's behavior by attributing it to stable personality traits while undervaluing situational influences.

Relevant concepts: Attribution theory distinguishes dispositional (internal) causes—personality, attitudes—from situational (external) causes—stress, workload, deadlines. The fundamental attribution error (FAE) is the observer’s bias toward dispositional explanations for others’ behavior. Related ideas include actor-observer bias (actors cite situations for their own behavior), availability heuristic (judging likelihood based on easily recalled examples), confirmation bias (favoring information that confirms existing beliefs), and generic labeling errors like “universality mistake” (not a standard attribution-term here).

Step-by-step reasoning:
1. Observe behavior: roommate leaves dirty laundry around the room.
2. Your immediate inference: she “must be a slob” — this is a dispositional attribution (stable trait: sloppy).
3. You ignore clear situational information: she is taking finals and working 40 hours per week, both plausible external reasons for temporary disorganization.
4. This pattern—favoring an internal trait explanation despite clear external factors—matches the FAE definition precisely.

Why the correct answer is correct: FAE specifically names the error of attributing others’ actions to their character rather than to circumstances. You (the observer) commit that error by ignoring evidence of situational pressure (exams and work).

Why other options are incorrect:
- Availability error / availability heuristic: refers to judging frequency or probability by how easily examples come to mind; not directly about attributing behavior to personality.
- Universality mistake: not a standard term in attribution theory and doesn’t describe misattributing cause to disposition.
- Confirmation bias: involves seeking or favoring information that confirms a prior belief; here the key issue is immediate dispositional attribution, not selective evidence gathering.