Psychology of Computer Geekery
Fundamental attribution error

by John Lansdale

I learned about the fundamental attribution error (FAE) a few years ago from a Book On Tape. (Who says all that time driving to clients' offices is wasted?) It resonated with something I knew from my many years of experience in computer technology.

Part of it was those meetings at which some new technology I hadn’t yet studied was being discussed. It was alphabet soup. I felt so dumb, the speakers so smart. Why was I even in this profession? Upon reflection, I realized there was another part. When I was on the other end. For example thinking about how the “users” would be understanding the genius of my latest changes to the Order Entry System. They just didn’t get it.

Both times I was under sway of the attribution error. Any time someone knew some detail I didn’t, I would attribute it not to the person’s particular experience, but to their innate intelligence, and, to my private embarrassment, vice versa. All this time I thought I was a computer genius, it was just that I had studied something someone else had not.

People in “normal” professions might just learn about the FAE and adjust. But in ours, the volume of rapidly changing, highly idiomatic information makes this very hard. The spread in ages at DACS makes it even harder because there’s an even broader range of specialties in which we can be geniuses and idiots.

My answer has been to learn at least a decent amount of EVERYTHING. That way I’ll always be aware when someone is really brilliant (it is possible) or just knows something new. I’ve learned to completely ignore genius – including any I may have - and look only for situational explanations.

I highly recommend any DACS member who feels embarrassed to attend a SIG in which he or she is interested but not familiar to start first by studying, not the subject, but the FAE. At the same time, some of you know-it-alls, and I mean you, had better take a look too. We’re all in the same boat. Wikipedia is a good place to start.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

In attribution theory, the fundamental attribution error (also known as correspondence bias or overattribution effect) is the tendency for people to over-emphasize dispositional, or personality-based, explanations for behaviors observed in others while under-emphasizing situational explanations. In other words, people have an unjustified tendency to assume that a person's actions depend on what "kind" of person that person is rather than on the social and environmental forces that influence the person. Overattribution is less likely, perhaps even inverted, when people explain their own behavior; this discrepancy is called the actor-observer bias.