Part 1: The FAE When people see something or experience something, they often develop an explanation for what happened. For example, "I failed that test. Must be because I didn't study." The way people explain things to themselves can affect decisions that they make. If you think you failed a test because you didn't study, you might try studying for the next test. But if you think you failed because you're stupid, you are less likely to invest a lot of time studying. When people develop their explanations of what happens in the world, they can be biased in any number of ways. Psychologists call one of these biases the Fundamental Attribution Error (FAE). In a nutshell, here's the FAE in action: You are walking. You trip twice on the same sidewalk. You glance at the sidewalk and th ink, "Wow, bad sidewalk, so uneven!" You see someone walking. They trip twice on the same sidewalk. You glance at them and think, "Wow, what a klutz!" The
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