Beyond Blame: Helping Students Recognize Attribution Bias from EAP260

Curriculum Integration Values

EAP courses create learning spaces where students feel welcome, included, and valued for the experiences they bring with them. These courses give students the chance to grow their language skills while exploring topics that connect to civic engagement and social justice.

Through conversation and interactive activities, students learn to listen to and respect different perspectives, and to see how culture and context shape the way we communicate. In EAP260, students are encouraged to question assumptions, build awareness, and gain the confidence they need to communicate effectively in diverse communities and professional settings.

Setting the Context / Curriculum Integration Goals

In English for Academic Purposes listening and speaking courses, communication skills are developed through themes that encourage meaningful discussion and real-world connection. These courses have the opportunity to explore topics such as culture, community, wellness, employment, and social issues, all of which are areas that are especially relevant for newcomers to Canada and students preparing to enter the workforce.

Within an intercultural communication unit, students examine how culture extends beyond nationality to include age, gender identity, socio-economic background, communication style, and lived experience. This lesson introduces the fundamental attribution error as a practical critical-thinking concept that helps students reflect on how quick judgments can lead to misunderstanding, stereotyping, and conflict in everyday interactions. The activity supports students in developing empathetic and effective communication skills.

Lesson Objective

This lesson is designed as a short, discussion-based activity that integrates listening comprehension, vocabulary development, and critical thinking. It can be used as a stand-alone activity or embedded within a broader unit on intercultural communication or social psychology.

By the end of the lesson, students will be able to:

• explain the concept of the fundamental attribution error in their own words,
• identify examples of attribution bias in everyday situations,
• discuss how quick judgments can contribute to stereotyping

These skills support students’ development as thoughtful critical thinkers and effective communicators in diverse settings.

Introductory Discussion

It’s helpful to begin with an informal discussion to activate prior knowledge and personal experience.

Opening Scenario

Imagine that you are part of a hiring team for an entry-level job. The interview is scheduled for 9:00 a.m.

At 9:10, the candidate still hasn’t arrived. At 9:15, there is no message or email.

One team member sighs and says: “This person is clearly unprofessional. If they can’t show up on time, how could we trust them as an employee?”

Just as the team agrees to move on, the candidate arrives, out of breath and visibly stressed. They apologize quickly and explain that their bus broke down, the next bus was full, and their phone battery died while trying to email the company.

Some team members look understanding. Others exchange looks and say: “Everyone has problems. Being late still says something about their character.”

Discussion

Ask students to discuss in small groups:

1. What was your first reaction when the candidate didn’t arrive on time?
2. Do you think being late tells us something about the person themselves, the situation, or both?
3. Why do you think people often make quick judgments in situations like this?

The Fundamental Attribution Bias

What we’ve just seen is a very common thinking pattern. We tend to explain other people’s behaviour by focusing on who they are, rather than what might be happening around them. Psychologists call this the fundamental attribution error. It is one of many cognitive biases that influence how we think and make decisions.

We see this bias often in daily life when people make quick judgments without knowing the full context. Becoming aware of this tendency can help us slow down, ask better questions, and avoid unfair assumptions. One very helpful way to combat this bias is to try to put yourself in the other person’s shoes, called “perspective taking.”

Psychologist Kurt Lewin suggested that behavior is influenced by both the person and the environment. Can you think of a time when someone’s actions made more sense once you understood the situation they were facing?

Let’s take a look at a video summarizing how this happens:

View Video as a Class

McCombs School of Business (2018). “The Fundamental Attribution Error | Ethics Defined”. [Video]. YouTube. The University of Texas at Austin. (1:41 minutes).

Video Transcript (link as PDF)

The fundamental attribution error is the tendency people have to overemphasize personal characteristics and ignore situational factors in judging others’ behavior. Because of the fundamental attribution error, we tend to believe that others do bad things because they are bad people. We’re inclined to ignore situational factors that might have played a role.

For instance, if someone cuts us off while driving, our first thought might be, “What a jerk!” instead of considering the possibility that the driver is rushing someone to the airport. On the flip side, when we cut someone off in traffic, we tend to convince ourselves that we had to do so. We focus on situational factors, like being late to a meeting, and ignore what our behavior might say about our own character.

For example, in one study, when something bad happened to someone else, subjects blamed that person’s behavior or personality 65% of the time. But when something bad happened to the subjects, they blamed themselves only 44% of the time, blaming the situation they were in much more often.

So, the fundamental attribution error explains why we often judge others harshly while letting ourselves off the hook at the same time by rationalizing our own unethical behavior.

Key Vocabulary to Highlight

Here are terms from this video that may be useful to explore. Students could review the list in small groups and discuss terms that are less familiar.

It may be useful to point out that many of these terms connect well to:

1. cause and effect language (because, explains why, attributed to)
2. contrast markers (on the flip side)
3. academic verbs (attribute, rationalize, overemphasize)

Attributed / Blamed Attribution Bias Character Convince ourselves Inclined Judging On the flip side Overemphasize Participants / Subjects Personal characteristics Perspective taking Played a role Rationalizing Situational factors Unethical behavior

Debrief and Discussion

The following questions could be useful after the video for a small group or full class debrief:

1. Why do you think people are more likely to blame personality than situation when judging others?
2. How can the fundamental attribution error affect teamwork or communication in the workplace?
3. Why might this bias be especially important to understand in intercultural settings?
4. How can slowing down and asking questions change the outcome of a misunderstanding?

Application Activity

Consider having students work through these scenarios in small groups. This gives them practice recognizing the bias in a familiar setting and encourages them to reflect on the value of putting themselves in someone else’s shoes to better understand a situation.

As a follow-up activity, students could share examples and experiences from their own lives.

Scenario 1: The Silent Teammate

Nina is working on a group presentation for one of her courses. During meetings, one group member, Jordan, rarely speaks. When the group discusses ideas, Jordan often looks down at their notes and gives short answers like “okay” or “that’s fine.” They don’t volunteer opinions and don’t disagree with anyone.

After a few meetings, Nina feels annoyed. She thinks, “Jordan is lazy and unprepared. They probably don’t care about this project.”

Another group member agrees and says Jordan is “just not a team player.”

What Nina doesn’t see is that Jordan is an international student who understands the readings well but feels nervous speaking in fast-paced discussions. Jordan worries about making grammar mistakes and slowing the group down, so they choose to listen instead of speak.

Reflection Questions

1. What judgments does Nina make about Jordan based on their behaviour?
2. What situational or personal factors could explain why Jordan speaks very little?
3. How might Nina’s assumptions affect how the group works together?

Scenario 2: The Short Break

Dev works part time at a warehouse while in school. One afternoon, his supervisor walks by and sees Dev sitting on a crate, checking his phone, even though the shift is busy and orders are backing up.

The supervisor immediately thinks, “Dev isn’t committed to the job and doesn’t care about pulling his weight.”

Later, the supervisor learns that Dev had been lifting heavy boxes nonstop for two hours. A pallet had collapsed earlier, and Dev helped clean it up. He sat down for one minute to respond to a message from the shift lead, who had asked him to confirm a new task.

The supervisor begins to question that first reaction. Was Dev avoiding work or responding to the demands of the situation?

Reflection Questions

1. What personal trait does the supervisor first attribute Dev’s behaviour to?
2. What situational factors change how we understand Dev’s actions?
3. How might this kind of quick judgment affect trust and morale at work?

Scenario 3: Meeting Project Deadlines

Maya is leading a student group for a research project. One team member, Sam, frequently misses deadlines and forgets to upload drafts to the shared folder. Other group members have started expressing frustration quietly, and Maya feels pressure to keep the project on track.

Her first thought is, “Sam doesn’t care about the project and is letting the team down,” but she wants to avoid jumping to conclusions. Maya wonders if Sam could be dealing with other responsibilities? How should she handle the situation so the team can still succeed?

Maya also notices that when Sam does contribute, the work is thoughtful and thorough. This makes her question whether the problem is really about commitment or something else.

Reflection Questions

1. What assumptions might Maya be making about Sam?
2. What factors outside the project could be affecting Sam’s performance?
3. How could Maya respond in a way that supports both Sam and the team?

Summary

This lesson helps students recognize and talk about how quickly we can form judgments about others without understanding their circumstances. By learning about the fundamental attribution error, students strengthen their critical thinking, intercultural awareness, and communication skills. These abilities are especially valuable in academic group work, workplace settings, and everyday interactions where empathy and perspective-taking lead to better outcomes.