Fundamental attribution error — MRCPsych Paper A MCQ

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ModeratePsychologyFundamental attribution errorMRCPsych Paper A

A consultant concludes that a trainee's late arrival reflects laziness and poor professionalism, despite being told that the hospital car park and main staff entrance were unexpectedly closed following a major incident. Which social-psychological bias best explains the consultant's judgement?

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Correct answer: B — Fundamental attribution error

The correct answer is **C, fundamental attribution error**. This is the tendency for an observer to overemphasise dispositional characteristics when explaining another person's behaviour and to underestimate situational influences. The consultant infers laziness and poor professionalism despite an explicit external cause for the lateness. Actor-observer asymmetry is broader and contrasts observers' dispositional explanations with actors' tendency to explain their own behaviour situationally; the trainee's own attribution is not described. Self-serving bias concerns attributing one's successes internally and failures externally. Cognitive dissonance is discomfort arising from inconsistent cognitions or behaviour. The just-world hypothesis is the belief that people generally receive outcomes they deserve.

Reference: Kubota JT et al. Stressing the person: legal and everyday person attributions under stress. Biological Psychology. 2014. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25175000/