success is all me, mistakes are not!

Self-serving bias was first defined in 1958 by Fritz Heider. He states that self-serving bias is the tendency to credit ourselves for successes (internal factors) like being smart or being better than others. But we blame external factors like unfair conditions, or bad luck for failures to protect our self-esteem. (Heider 1958). Later a study was conducted by Miller and Ross in 1975, in which participants were given various task with different outcomes. The participants credited themselves for succeeding a task and when they failed, they blamed having unfair conditions (Miller & Ross 1975). This study confirmed that people protect their self-esteem by taking credit for success and shifting blame for failure (Heider 1958).  In a cross-culture study conducted by Amy Mezulis (2004), they found that is most Asian cultures see self-serving bias as unwelcome. Basically, meaning that most people in Asia see self-serving bias as stuck up or not respectful. In the United States we use self-serving bias in voting for explaining our leaders. An example would be the gas prices went up because of Biden because he was a bad president. But the gas prices are up for trump because the United States needs the money.

We all use self-serving bias in our lives especially when it come around to people we want to impress. The other day I was driving and a semi-truck swerved in front of me, and I swerved to get away from it but then that caused someone else to swerve and it was a mess. Now I know that I wasn't at fault, and I thought to myself what a reckless driver that truck driver was. But now that I think about it, I was creeping on him and I drive a little car, so he probably did not see me, in his mind I was the bad driver that doesn't follow the rules when driving by semi-trucks. Now I went home and told everyone about this incident, and they all told me to call the company and get his license revoked and I agreed. But sitting here thinking about it is that he was probably just as scared at I was. Another example I have is my workout routine. I hardly run but I look great, and I tell everyone that I work out so much. But if I gain any weight or get out of shape, I will tell people that it is because I am so busy or too stressed to workout. And I will forever do that because I am not going to make myself look bad!

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References:

Heider, Fritz. The Psychology of Interpersonal Relations. Mansfield, Martino Publ, 1958.

Miller, Dale T., and Michael Ross. “Self-Serving Biases in the Attribution of Causality: Fact or Fiction?” Psychological Bulletin, vol. 82, no. 2, 1975, pp. 213–225, https://doi.org/10.1037/h0076486.

Mezulis, Amy & Abramson, Lyn & Hyde, Janet & Hankin, Benjamin. (2004). Is There a Universal Positivity Bias in Attributions? A Meta-Analytic Review of Individual, Developmental, and Cultural Differences in the Self-Serving Attributional Bias. Psychological Bulletin. 130. 711-47. 10.1037/0033-2909.130.5.711. 

Honor Code: 

I have acted with honesty and integrity in producing this work and am unaware of anyone who has not.

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