A study done at the University of Georgia (1) examined the phenomena of the self-serving bias by having participants complete an facial recognition task that they were told would predict mental health and well-being. Regardless of what responses they gave, they were either given positive or negative feedback. After the feedback was received, the participants then were asked to answer with a button to a question that posed either an internal attribution or an external one (for example, "I am stupid" versus "The task was hard"). ERP activity was measured during these responses.
The results showed that the participants made more external attributions when provided with negative feedback, but made more internal ones when they were given positive feedback. These findings would be expected considering the self-serving bias. Interestingly, they also found that when a person made an attribution that didn't coincide with the self-serving bias, ERP activity was increased. This would suggest that it takes more cognitive control to make attributions that don't match this phenomena.
Putting aside that the study confirmed the self-serving bias, I thought it was interesting that the findings suggest that it actually takes more self-control to inhibit our self-serving tendencies. Everyone wants to feel good about themselves, of course, so it seems logical to only accept responsibility for good things that happen in order to protect our self-concept. But what do these findings imply for people who tend to have a negative outlook on life or are depressed? I personally have a friend that always makes internal attributions when things go wrong (especially on exams) but uses the excuse that it was luck or someone else influenced anything good. My guess would be that since depression generally comes with negative views about the self, the person will accept negative internal attributions more than good ones. Therefore, I wonder if the study was repeated with clinically depressed participants, the opposite findings would be true? It would be interesting to see if it requires depressed people more self-control in order to not constantly blame internal factors every time something goes wrong, not only for diagnostic purposes, but also for treatment plans.
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(Nanako) This comic strip illustrates the self-serving bias. Calvin shows the latter pattern by blaming his failure on an external source. When the boy throws the snowball toward Susie, he misses. He thinks the reason why he misses is "a cross breeze," not his poor ability of throwing. He attributes failure to external factor. It would probably be logical to assume that if he had made impact, he would have accredited it to his good aim. |
It is natural for people to think that way because we want to feel good about ourselves. Perhaps we try to protect ourselves on an unconscious level. Whatever the reason, we want to see ourselves as being good or having talent. Although this tendency makes us get more motived, it can also cause us problems when we have too much of a positive bias towards ourself.
However, I feel that this tendency depends on culture. In my culture, we do not tend to say that any success attributes to the self because we feel that it is more important to cooperate with others. Even if we think that success could be the result of personal factors, we are more likely to give credit to the group. Therefore, I feel that it might depend on culture.
(John) Lets look at an example of what this could look like. Lets picture an extroverted high school student who someone who happens to have a lot of friends. If this person has a strong self-serving bias then they might have a distorted attitude and credit their own personality and behavior for why they have so many great friends. What if this individual wasn't so "great?" What if this person was actually quite annoying but just happened to have a compassionate group of friends who are dedicated to their annoying friend no matter what? This individual could have a really tough time going into college and making new friends if their self-serving bias keeps getting the best of them.
(Alexandria) The study from the University of Georgia proves that the self-serving bias is in fact, a real thing. Through their direct feedback, (‘‘I am smart’’, ‘‘I tried hard’’, ‘‘It was hard’’, ‘‘It was bad luck’’, etc.) it is clear they want to attribute either their successes or failures to themselves or elsewhere. This was extremely interesting how there is neural differences. The fact that it take more self-control to attribute a success to external factor, shows that the self-serving bias is very natural and takes effort to steer away from. There are many, many studies showing the self-serving bias to exist, but we can all pretty much admit that it does exist, without the aid of a study, if we really just reflect on ourselves for a moment. We, as humans, like to live in an ideal world in our minds. Most people do not like to admit their failures. We follow the self-serving bias to protect our self-esteem. We want to think that we failed a test because the teacher sucked, not because we are incapable of comprehending something. It's easier to blame our issues on other causes than to admit that we are indeed, flawed.
Researching more on the self-serving bias, I came across a study by Anne Wilson. In her study, she explored how we view our present selves compared to our former selves, in the light of the self-serving bias (2). She found that when looking at our former selves, we tend to rate our present selves on a much higher level. We sometimes even distance ourselves away from being that person at all. We want to think that now we are the best we can be. We do not want to imagine that a younger, or past version of our-self can outshine us. This really is very true. I have a good friend who always looks at herself in grammar and high school as being such a terrible person. At the time, she never would have admitted that, but now she believes that she is a better person, so it makes her feel better to reflect upon her past self negatively. Knowing that the self-serving bias exists makes me want to go against it. It is only natural to want to see yourself positively, but it just seems strange that the person we think we are, is really just an unrealistic version of us.
(John) As good as the self-serving bias can be for our self esteem, it can give us an unrealistic comparison of our past vs. present selves. If we tend to see ourselves as better than we were before, then why change? Often times we will tell ourselves things like "Oh, I'm not like that now. I'm better than I used to be. That's the old me," and many other things. In reality, maybe we haven't changed so much. Self progress can be delayed or halted if our self-serving bias gets the best of us.
REFERENCES:
1. Krusemark, E. A., Campbell, W., & Clementz, B. A. (2008). Attributions, deception, and event related potentials: An investigation of the self-serving bias. Psychophysiology, 45(4), 511-515. doi:10.1111/j.1469-8986.2008.00659.x However, I feel that this tendency depends on culture. In my culture, we do not tend to say that any success attributes to the self because we feel that it is more important to cooperate with others. Even if we think that success could be the result of personal factors, we are more likely to give credit to the group. Therefore, I feel that it might depend on culture.
(John) Lets look at an example of what this could look like. Lets picture an extroverted high school student who someone who happens to have a lot of friends. If this person has a strong self-serving bias then they might have a distorted attitude and credit their own personality and behavior for why they have so many great friends. What if this individual wasn't so "great?" What if this person was actually quite annoying but just happened to have a compassionate group of friends who are dedicated to their annoying friend no matter what? This individual could have a really tough time going into college and making new friends if their self-serving bias keeps getting the best of them.
(Alexandria) The study from the University of Georgia proves that the self-serving bias is in fact, a real thing. Through their direct feedback, (‘‘I am smart’’, ‘‘I tried hard’’, ‘‘It was hard’’, ‘‘It was bad luck’’, etc.) it is clear they want to attribute either their successes or failures to themselves or elsewhere. This was extremely interesting how there is neural differences. The fact that it take more self-control to attribute a success to external factor, shows that the self-serving bias is very natural and takes effort to steer away from. There are many, many studies showing the self-serving bias to exist, but we can all pretty much admit that it does exist, without the aid of a study, if we really just reflect on ourselves for a moment. We, as humans, like to live in an ideal world in our minds. Most people do not like to admit their failures. We follow the self-serving bias to protect our self-esteem. We want to think that we failed a test because the teacher sucked, not because we are incapable of comprehending something. It's easier to blame our issues on other causes than to admit that we are indeed, flawed.
Researching more on the self-serving bias, I came across a study by Anne Wilson. In her study, she explored how we view our present selves compared to our former selves, in the light of the self-serving bias (2). She found that when looking at our former selves, we tend to rate our present selves on a much higher level. We sometimes even distance ourselves away from being that person at all. We want to think that now we are the best we can be. We do not want to imagine that a younger, or past version of our-self can outshine us. This really is very true. I have a good friend who always looks at herself in grammar and high school as being such a terrible person. At the time, she never would have admitted that, but now she believes that she is a better person, so it makes her feel better to reflect upon her past self negatively. Knowing that the self-serving bias exists makes me want to go against it. It is only natural to want to see yourself positively, but it just seems strange that the person we think we are, is really just an unrealistic version of us.
(John) As good as the self-serving bias can be for our self esteem, it can give us an unrealistic comparison of our past vs. present selves. If we tend to see ourselves as better than we were before, then why change? Often times we will tell ourselves things like "Oh, I'm not like that now. I'm better than I used to be. That's the old me," and many other things. In reality, maybe we haven't changed so much. Self progress can be delayed or halted if our self-serving bias gets the best of us.
In this video, a woman takes credit for the success of what appears to be a group project. She is demonstrating the self-serving bias by attributing all of the success to herself. (Yaeji)
REFERENCES:
2. Wilson, Anne Ellen (2000). How do people's perceptions of their former selves affect their current self-appraisals? Ph.D. dissertation, University of Waterloo (Canada), Canada. Retrieved February 12, 2011, from Dissertations & Theses: Full Text.(Publication No. AAT NQ53525).
3. Watterson, Bill. "Calvin and Hobbes" (comic strip excerpt). The Authoritative Calvin and Hobbes: A Calvin and Hobbes Treasury. New York: Andrews and McMeel, 1990. Pg. 27
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