Bite-size: We often overestimate the character or personality of a person when making a judgment or evaluation, and instead ignore the very powerful influence of the context or situation we’re in.
This is called the Fundamental Attribution Error and it is the main argument for the importance of social psychology.
Full-size:
You're at a coffee shop, and the barista gets your order wrong. You might think, "They're careless and not paying attention to their job". However, they might be dealing with a rush of orders, feeling stressed, or new to the job. You initially attributed the error to a personal trait but in reality, there are situational factors that are more likely to have caused the mistake.
This example reminds us how easily we can overlook external pressures in everyday interactions. But it’s also something that plagues client-agency teams.
Perhaps misattributing lower-than-expected sales from a campaign due to audience preference, when situational factors might be at play. Message misalignment or customer journey gaps are two obvious ones, but it could also be (something that gets in the way of purchase), or less obvious factors like
You launch a high-budget campaign for a luxury watch brand—it features stunning visuals, celebrity endorsements, and a focus on exclusivity—but the brand sees little uplift in sales. People within the agency might conclude, "Consumers just don’t care about luxury watches anymore" (attributing the poor performance to a lack of interest or changing tastes). But what’s likely to be the case can be attributed to situational factors. Examples: message misalignment, customer journey gaps, over-saturated message or fatigue, or it was just a timing issue.