Concepts
Health psychology/Cognitive biases · Social cognition
Actor–observer bias
What it means
Attributing one’s OWN behaviour to the situation, but others’ identical behaviour to their disposition/character.
Worked example
"I was late because of the traffic; he was late because he’s lazy."
In the exam
A man excuses his own lateness as unavoidable circumstance, yet judges a colleague who is equally late as simply unreliable by nature.
What settles it
Actor–observer contrasts SELF (situational) with OTHERS (dispositional). The fundamental attribution error is the observer half on its own — over-attributing others’ behaviour to character.
Classically confused with
Fundamental attribution error
Source: Jones & Nisbett; social psychology