The fundamental attribution error. We all fall victim to its engrossing and sly ways at some point or another.
Last week I was in a store looking for a new swimsuit when a lady and her two kids hustled by me doing the same. For the next 5 minutes I listened to the lady berate her kids for the most insignificant mistakes I had ever seen. It first started with one of the kids dropping the mom's wallet he was carrying for her. She turned around, face beet red, and said if you drop that thing one more time I'm returning all of your birthday presents. Several adjectives popped into my mind to describe this lady that I can't exactly repeat on a school assignment. I ended up walking by the same lady nearly an hour later in the mall and I heard her talking about "signing the papers," her eyes glazed with tears. She was getting a divorce. I had mistaken this poor woman's actions by her personality instead of wondering what situation may have been causing her to act out- the fundamental attribution error.
