The fundamental attribution error is the erroneous assumption of certain individuals that the behavior of other individuals is their trait. Such people making such erroneous assumptions also tend to underestimate the power of the situation on the behavior of others, and normally they fail to recognize when the behavior of others is attributed to by situational variables, thus failing to the recognize the other person’s state (p.411). Therefore, the fundamental attribution error describes the tendency of a perceiver to underestimate of situational factors on human behavior while they overestimate the impact of dispositional factors on the human behavior. For instance, an individual may be having a belief that aggressive behavior is as a result of an aggressive personality characteristics (dispositional factor) when in real sense the aggressive behavior can also be attributed to by situational circumstances (situational factor).
Foot-in-the-door technique is a persuasion strategy whereby a persuader gets another person to bestow a small favor or purchase a small item, only for the persuader to end up requesting for even a larger favor or purchase of a bigger item (p.425). The technique has been used to change people’s attitudes, ideas and behaviors, and by companies to effectively sell their products and services. For example, a teen under curfew can decide to ask his or her parent for a small permission, say extending the curfew by an hour, only to end up asking them for something larger.
Although stress has been known for its negative connotations, the book notes that it can be at times useful. Stress has the capability to motivate people to do things in their best interests, say study for exams, exercise or visit a doctor regularly, and perform their quality best at work. The author notes that stress can sometimes positively motivate individuals to improve the quality of their life. As a student, I normally get stressed from exam fever, but the fever ends up being my motivator to study even harder to ensure that I pass my exams. However, when stress exceeds its optimal level, it is no longer a positive force as it becomes excessive and debilitating hence harmful (p.497).
