Youth Curriculum - Fundamental Attribution Error

In the workplace, a good first impression is key. But what happens when someone strikes a bad first impression? Should you hold onto the negative thought about that individual or should you give them the benefit of the doubt and reflect on why that first impression wasn’t great? The idea that people have the tendency to overestimate dispositional (personality-based) explanations for behaviors while underestimating the role and power of situational influences on the same behavior is Fundamental Attribution Error (FAE). This workshop examines the idea of FAE and provides a framework on how to best overcome an initial attribution of an individual’s behavior. This workshop will lay out the framework of how to exactly overcome first impression bias with a technique that prompts participants to think of external factors that could have impacted the behavior. Participants will engage in exercises to help them identify their own first impression bias on a situation, and reflect on how situational influences could have impacted the behavior, resulting in creating a new judgement that is less critical and more compassionate. By the end of this workshop participants will be able to use the two-step debiasing technique both in their professional and personal lives.  

Target Audience: In-School Youth, Out-of-School Youth

Essential Question: By completion of this workshop, participants should be able to answer the question:

·       How can I recognize and overcome Fundamental Attribution Error when interacting with others in the workplace?

Vocabulary Terms:

·       Fundamental Attribution Error (FAE)

·       Attribution

·       Bias

Duration: 1 hour, Virtual (Content is housed in Keywe)

Course Code: Youth8

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