Self-awareness, probability of improvement, and the self-serving bias.
- UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
- Paul Silvia, Professor (Creator)
- Institution
- The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
- Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/
Abstract: The self-serving attributional bias—attributing success internally and failure externally—appears for many psychologists to have achieved the status of an empirical fact (Brown & Rogers, 1991). Researchers indeed find a consistent tendency for individuals to attribute success to self (e.g., Miller & Ross, 1975). Yet the literature on failure attributions shows a lot of variability. Many experiments find external attributions for failure (e.g., Snyder, Stephan, & Rosenfield, 1976, 1978). Many other studies, however, find internal attributions for failure (e.g., Ames, 1975; Ross, Bierbrauer, & Polly, 1974; Weary et al., 1982). In fact, Zuckerman's (1979) qualitative review reveals broad diversity in effects. Among 13 studies on attributions for failed interpersonal influence, for example, 5 found a self-serving pattern, 4 found a non-self-serving pattern, and 4 found no effects. A recent quantitative review found that the distribution of effect sizes ranged across positive and negative values (Campbell & Sedikides, 1999, p. 34); self-serving and non-self-serving effects were observed frequently.
Self-awareness, probability of improvement, and the self-serving bias.
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Created on 1/1/2005
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Additional Information
- Publication
- Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 82, 49-61
- Language: English
- Date: 2005
- Keywords
- Self-awareness, Self-serving attributional bias