“When we commit the fundamental attribution error in explaining peoples behaviour we overestimate the power of personality traits and underestimate the power of social influence. Discuss this statement with reference to Milgrams studies on obedience.”

Milgram (1963) demonstrated that the majority of the subjects in his studies on obedience (65 per cent) average, decent American citizens (Milgram, 1963. p.5 ) who had volunteered for a Yale University experiment on learning would administer painful electric shocks up to 450 volts to another volunteer, despite the latters protests. The findings of Milgrams studies are frequently cited as an example of the power of situational strengths in shaping behaviour and of the tendency to underestimate social influence and instead attribute peoples behaviour to their dispositions or character, i.e. to commit the fundamental attribution error (e.g., Bierbrauer, 1979; Safer, 1980)….(short extract)