Self-Serving Bias

Tendency to take credit for success and blame failires on the

situation.
Attribute our own positive outcome to internal cause but
negative ones to external factors.
Cognitive : stems mainly from certain tendencies in the way
we process social information.
Motivational : stems from our need to protect and enhance
our self-esteem .
Causes of the self-serving bias
• Need to maintain and strengthen in self-esteem.
• One’s perceptions of how ourself perceived by others.
• To get praise from others about our achievement.
 Aspects of Differences Gender
• Sex
 biological characteristics.
• Gender
 the psychological experience of being male or female.
• Gender identity
 One’s view of oneself as male or female.
• Gender role
 the behaviors consistent with being male or female in a given culture.
• Sexual orientation
 the tendency to prefer romantic and sexual partners of the same or different sex.
 Differences gender in
attributions
 The highly consisten finding for females of all ages to have lower initial
expectancies for success than males .
 Girls and young women consistently demonstrate lower expectations for
success than boys and young men.
 Relevant data indicate that females of all ages are more likely than males to
attribute their success to unstable and external factors such as luck and task
ease.
Gender differences in causal attribution and emotions for imagined
success and failure.
Women display a less self-enchancing pattern of casual attributions
than men.
Women been found to attribute successful outcomes more
externally.
For failures, males see internal causes as less important than do
female.
Males made stronger ability attributions for success.
Females emphasized the importance of studying and paying
attention.
Males more than females attributed failure to a lack of studying and
low interest, but females were more likely than males to blame an F
on a lack of ability.
• Theorized that individuals possess a traitlike characteristic known as
an attributional style.
Females more likely to possess a “ pessimistic”
Males more likely to possess an “ optimistic”
• Some of the research suggests that women display a less self-
enhancing pattern of causal attribution than men.