The fundamental attribution error: a phenomenological critique.

The fundamental attribution error (Heider, 1958; Ross, 1977) has been extensively researched and explanations sought within a social cognitive framework. This work is reviewed, and it is noted that there is no unifying theory to account for the extensive catalogue of experimental work. Social cognitive explanations have proposed distinctions between perceptual, inferential and motivational functions within the person to account for the phenomenon.