The Power of Context: How to Manage Our Bias and Improve Our Understanding of Others, Stalder Daniel R.

Social life involves making judgments about other people. Often these snap judgments turn out to be wrong when we overlook context. Social psychologists call this pervasive bias the fundamental attribution error. This book explores the many ways in which this error creeps into our social interactions, frequently causing misunderstanding, hurt feelings, and negative treatment of others.

Psychologist Daniel R. Stalder examines common examples of this error, from road rage and misinterpreting facial expressions to gaydar, victim blaming, and prejudice. The common denominator in these diverse examples is that we falsely assume inherent traits or intentions while overlooking situational factors that might explain a persons behavior.

Conversely in the actor-observer bias, we explain our own sometimes questionable behaviors by appealing to situational factors. For example, when you tailgate others, theres always a good reason, but when others tailgate you, they are obviously in the wrong.

Stalder also reveals little-known information about classic studies of context, considers both the upsides and downsides to bias, and shares numerous strategies to reduce bias.