diff --git a/doc/developers/contributing.rst b/doc/developers/contributing.rst
index e236e936d0947410748de8099f644362e6c400bf..0c772e444a8197deef6e39d41de75b65fa14f947 100644
--- a/doc/developers/contributing.rst
+++ b/doc/developers/contributing.rst
@@ -1176,7 +1176,7 @@ implement the interface is::
 
     def set_params(self, **parameters):
         for parameter, value in parameters.items():
-            self.setattr(parameter, value)
+            setattr(self, parameter, value)
         return self