In Zimbardo's Stanford prison study, college men were randomly assigned to be guards or prisoners in a simulated prison. Within a few days, many guards adopted authoritarian roles and prisoners showed signs of stress. The study was ended early. Later analyses noted that some guard behavior was shaped by explicit instructions and selection effects.
Observers who explained guard behavior solely as evidence that "those guards must be cruel people" would be committing the:
- Acheck_circle
Fundamental attribution error
- B
Self-serving bias
- C
Hindsight bias
- D
Actor-observer asymmetry favoring situations
Explanation
The fundamental attribution error is the tendency to overattribute others' behavior to dispositions and underweight situational forces, exactly what Zimbardo's study sought to dramatize.