Self-Serving Bias

Misconception vs. Truth

Misconception:
You evaluate yourself based on past successes and defeats.

Truth:
You excuse your failures and see yourself as more successful, more intelligent, and more skilled than you are.

Historical Beliefs and Modern Findings

  • Early psychology suggested people had low self-esteem and inferiority complexes.
  • Modern research indicates most people have inflated self-esteem and think highly of themselves daily.
  • This tendency helps avoid stagnation and paralysis by fear and doubt.

Self-Serving Bias

  • You accept credit for successes but blame external factors for failures (bad luck, unfair rules, etc.).
  • You view past mistakes as made by a former, less competent version of yourself.
  • Studies by Anne Wilson and Michael Ross (2001) show people believe they have improved significantly over their past selves.

Illusory Superiority

  • Most people think they are above average in various attributes (competence, ethics, friendliness, intelligence, attractiveness, etc.).
  • This phenomenon is known as the illusory superiority effect.
  • You believe you are better than others, while seeing others as part of the average population.

Egocentricity and Subjective Analysis

  • Your subjective worldview leads to egocentric judgments about your abilities and status.
  • Research by Justin Kruger (1999) showed task difficulty priming affects self-assessment, leading people to rate their performance as above or below average based on perceived task ease.

Social Comparisons and Popularity

  • You compare yourself primarily to friends and peers, not distant figures of success.
  • Studies by Zuckerman and Jost (1993) on self-evaluation maintenance theory indicate you believe you are more popular than your peers.
  • People generally think they have more friends and social connections than others.

Inflating Positives and Minimizing Negatives

  • You are predisposed to accentuate your positives while overlooking your faults.
  • Self-serving bias helps maintain self-esteem by favoring positive self-assessments.
  • Failure is often forgotten, while successes are magnified and shared.

Practical Implications

  • Self-serving bias and illusory superiority serve to keep you motivated and protect your psychological well-being.
  • Recognizing these biases can help manage unrealistic self-perceptions and improve self-awareness.