Actor-Observer bias is the tendency to attribute one’s own behaviour to external circumstances while attributing others behaviour to their personality.
Imagine you run 10 minutes late for a job interview. You’d planned ahead. You’re normally a person who arrives early or on time. And when you apologized to the interviewer, you explain, you had a good reason, on your bus, someone fainted and you had to wait for medical help.
Unfortunately, the interviewer has probably already assigned your tardiness to your personality. This is what we call actor-observer bias. It’s when we see a person in a negative event, and we attribute it to who they are and part of their personality traits rather than their external
circumstances.
But when we’re talking about our self, we talk about it, being part of our external circumstances. And not part of who we are, cut some people, some slack today. See if you notice, Actor-Observer bias in your daily life.