Not My Type

Attribution is the theory that we explain someone's behavior by crediting either the situation or the person's disposition. The process of attribution is someone behaves in a way and we judge them on that situation. The fundamental attribution error is overestimating the influence of personality and underestimating the influence of situations. Like Hitler everyone thought he was so smart and trusting and was leading their country to victory, but in actuality, he was mass murdering millions of people.

Stereotypes are a generalized (sometimes accurate but often overgeneralized) belief about a group of people. Illusory correlations is the perception of a relationship where none exists. If you see a picture of the twin towers, you think about Muslims and terrorist, this is illusory correlation and stereotypes. If you see a picture of a farm, you think of cows and farming. These are all examples of the relationship. You generalize a picture with a stereotype.