Overestimate personality factors and underestimate situational factors in explaining others' behavior.
Ross named it in 1977, building on Jones and Harris's 1967 Castro-essay experiment, in which readers inferred a writer's real views from an essay they knew had been assigned. Milgram is a vivid illustration of situational influence rather than the experiment from which the error was established.
In practice
- A colleague who missed the deadline is disorganised; you missed yours because two people were off sick.
- A patient who does not take their medication is non-compliant; you forgot yours because the week was chaotic.
- Further reading
- Wikipedia
- Subject
- Psychology & Behavior
- Essay
- A century and a half of measuring the mind