... they could tell that others behaved according to the circumstances of chance, however, observers would attribute the behaviour to the situation. Jones and Harris (1967) conducted an experiment, which aimed to illustrate the fundamental attribution error. The participants listened to pro- and anti- Fidel Castro speeches. Then they were asked to rate the pro-Castro attitudes of both. When the participants believed that the speech makers freely chose which position to take (for or against Castro), they naturally rated the people who gave the pro-Castro speeches as having a more positive attitude toward Castro. However Jones and Harris' hypothesis, when the participants were specifically told that the speech makers gave either a pro- or an anti-Castro speech randomly, however the participants still rated the people who gave the pro-Castro speeches as having, on average, a more positive attitude towards Castro than those giving anti-Castro speeches. Method: 170 participants were recruited. These were ...

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