Self-Serving Biases II

Don't permit yourself to show temper. Always remember that if you are right you can afford to keep your temper, and if you are wrong you cannot afford to lose it. ~ J. J. Reynolds


Self-Serving Bias is our tendency to take credit for success (self-enhancing bias) and deny any responsibility for failure (self-protective bias).

This helps to protect our ego. It also enables us to confirm that we are meeting our goals.

We will tend to be less self-serving if other needs interrupt, for example if we are subject to public scrutiny.

Group-serving bias happens at group level, in the same way.

For example, I am proud of my good exam results except for the failure in one subject where I was unfortunately rather ill on the day of the examination.


1. Self-Attributions
Numerous studies indicate that we explain and judge the causes of our behaviours in positive ways while making negative attributions about others' actions. We attribute our own failures or crimes to "bad luck" or "terrible circumstances" while blaming others' on criminal intentions or negligence.

In explaining positive behaviours, moreover, we make internal attributions about our own actions ("I gave money to that charity because I am generous") but external attributions about others' similar behaviours ("She made a large donation just to impress the boss")

Winners at games of chance credit their skill, while losers cite "bad luck". Relationship partners each claim that they do the majority of household work, while their spouses make minimal contributions.

Self-serving biases in attribution can help preserve a sense of self-esteem, but they can also hinder good interpersonal relations and make it hard to sympathize with or respect others' points of view.

2. Unrealistic Optimism
To some extent self-serving biases require distorting reality. Real life involves unfairness and disaster. Healthy functioning may require one to be optimistic in spite of the evidence. It has been found that some depressed individuals are not pessimistic about life situations, but are rather realistic. In contrast, non-depressed persons are not realistic, but they are unrealistically optimistic about their ability to overcome obstacles to success and happiness.

For example, in judging one's likelihood of suffering from major illness or divorce, respondents say they have a lower probability of such negative life experiences than others. Alternatively, they claim they are more likely to experience such successes as home ownership, wealth, and career success.

Unrealistic optimism can strengthen people's resolve in dealing with adverse circumstances and can enhance mood. However, it can also lead one to be unprepared for realistic risks.

3. Illusions of Invulnerability
One consequence of unrealistic optimism is to develop illusions of invulnerability, false perceptions that one is immune to error, pain or failure. For example, believing oneself to be "safer" than others, one may take greater and unnecessary risks, such as driving without wearing a seatbelt, smoking cigarettes, or not using contraception. Individuals who maintain such illusory ideas have been found consequently to be at great risk for injury, illness or unwanted pregnancy. Our self-protective illusions can have self-destructive consequences. Illusions of invulnerablility have also been found to contaminate group problem solving efforts and make irresponsible decisions more likely.

4. False Comparison Effects
Believing ourselves to be mroe moral than average, better than average, safer than average, we may wrongly judge how our actions compare with those of others.

One example of this is the false uniqueness effect. We see our positive actions, skills and abilities to be relatively unusual, misjudging the likelihood that others are also good or talented.

Alternatively, when we acknowlege the selfishness or failures we have experienced, we may suffer from the false consensus effect. We overestimate how common our negative behaviours and prejudices are, justifying cheating on our taxes by arguing that "everyone does it", and excusing an angry outburst by claiming "it's normal fo rpeople to lose their temper once in a while".



Attitude
The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, then circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think, say, or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill. It will make or break a company, a church, a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day.

We cannot change our past. We cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you. We are in charge of our attitudes.