Question

Rachel's new roommate, Berta, has not done laundry for an entire week. Her clothes are lying all over their room. This leads Rachel to assume that Berta is an untidy and undisciplined person. What Rachel does not know is that Berta is currently taking finals and working 40 hours per week. In the context of social cognition, Rachel is primarily demonstrating:

A) Fundamental Attribution Error
B) Self-serving Bias
C) Actor-Observer Bias
D) Stereotyping

Answer 1

Rachel's incorrect assumption about her roommate Berta's tidiness is an example of the Fundamental Attribution Error, a common error in social cognition.

Step-by-step explanation:

Rachel's assumption about her roommate Berta's character based on the disorganized state of their room, without knowing Berta's situation of taking finals and working extensively, demonstrates what is known as the Fundamental Attribution Error. This cognition error occurs when people underestimate situational influences and overestimate dispositional or internal factors in assessing others' behaviors. Clearly, Rachel has limited information about Berta's circumstances, which leads her to this incorrect conclusion. The Fundamental Attribution Error is a common phenomenon in social cognition and highlights the discrepancies in how we interpret our own behavior compared to that of others.