Social Biases Vocabulary

overemphasizing personality and underemphasizing situations when judging others' behavior

“Assuming the late colleague is lazy rather than stuck in traffic is the fundamental attribution error.”

Origin: Latin fundamentum `foundation` + attribuere `to assign` + error `wandering`

letting one positive trait influence overall impression of a person

“The halo effect made the attractive candidate seem more competent in interviews.”

Origin: Greek halos `disk of the sun or moon` + Latin effectus `accomplishment`

favoring members of one's own group over outsiders

“In-group bias led the committee to hire candidates from their alma mater.”

Origin: Old English in `within` + Old French groupe `cluster` + bias

perceiving members of other groups as more similar to each other than they are

“Out-group homogeneity makes 'they all look alike' a common but mistaken perception.”

Origin: Latin homo `same` + genus `kind, race`

a widely held but oversimplified idea about a group

“The stereotype of engineers being socially awkward doesn't hold up to scrutiny.”

Origin: Greek stereos `solid` + typos `impression, type`

assuming others share one's current beliefs, values, or emotional states

“His projection bias made him think everyone found the joke as funny as he did.”

Origin: Latin proicere `to throw forth` (pro- `forward` + iacere `to throw`)

the belief that people get what they deserve

“The just-world hypothesis leads to blaming victims for their misfortunes.”

Origin: Latin justus `righteous, equitable` + Greek hypothesis `foundation`

letting one negative trait overshadow overall impression

“One mistake created a horn effect, making everything else she did seem incompetent.”

Origin: Old English horn `projection` (alluding to devil's horns) + Latin effectus

attributing own actions to situations but others' actions to personality

“Actor-observer bias: 'I failed because the test was unfair; she failed because she's dumb.'”

Origin: Latin actor `doer` + observer from observare `to watch`

favoring people who are similar to oneself

“Affinity bias in hiring leads to homogeneous teams that lack diversity of thought.”

Origin: Latin affinitas `relationship by marriage` from affinis `bordering on`