The ultimate attribution error is a group bias that explains the relations between the ingroups and outgroups and their behaviours (Pettigrew, 1979). The ultimate attribution error arises as a way to explain an outgroup’s negative behaviour as flaws in their personality, and to explain an outgroup's positive behaviour as a result of chance or circumstance. It is also the belief that positive acts performed by ingroup members are as a result of their personality, whereas if an ingroup member behaves negatively (this is believed to be rare), it is a result of situational factors (Hewstone, 1989).
The ultimate attribution error is different from other attribution errors (such as the fundamental attribution error) in that it is used to describe entire groups of people, whereas the fundamental attribution error has to do with dispositional attributions that apply only to an individual. This has led it to be considered one of the roots of prejudice.
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