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AttitudeBeliefandSelf-ServingBias.html.zip
AttitudeBeliefandSelf-ServingBias.html.zip
Attitude, Belief, and Self-Serving Bias.html
Attitude, Belief, and Self-Serving Bias
Imagine a futuristic society that has no violence and corruption and where most vices and personal choices have been eradicated. This is the type of society shown in the movie Demolition Man (1993). In one of the not-so-memorable scenes, a man looks into what appears to be a futuristic phone booth.
The man asks the booth, "I don't know . . . lately I just don't feel like there's anything special about me." The voice of the computer, demonstrating infinite wisdom and insight states, "You are an incredibly sensitive man who inspires joy-joy feelings in all those around you" (The Internet Movie Database, 2008, n.p.).
When you hear something that you want to hear regarding your own behavior or attitudes, what does that do? Read your daily horoscope for a month, and you may come up with some underlying themes. The daily horoscope usually contains a reference to financial, relationship, and career-related issues. It is specific enough to pique your interest but ambiguous enough to allow for a great level of interpretation—your horoscope is what you interpret it to be. This also gives you an idea of what we mean by a self-serving bias.
A self-serving bias helps you move to a more positive frame of mind. Looking at yourself in a favorable light helps you rationalize when things don't go as planned, and you tend to behave in ways that supports your own bias, as well as your own impression of yourself.
Let's understand the concept of self-serving biases with the help of examples. See linked document.
The Internet Movie Database. (2008). Memorable quotes for demolition man. Retrieved from http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0106697/quotes
Additional Materials
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media/week2/SUO_PSY3010 Examples of Self-Serving Bias.pdf
Examples of Self-Serving Bias
PSY3010 Social Psychology
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2 Examples of Self-Serving Bias
Attitude, Belief, and Self-Serving Bias
Examples of Self-Serving Bias
Self-serving biases lead to self-serving attributions—taking responsibility for your actions when the outcome is what you want and attributing the results to other factors when the outcome is not what you want.
Example 1
Football fans have favorite football teams. For serious fans, watching a football match of their favorite team is more than just a form of entertainment.
In 2007, the Dallas Cowboys lost to the New York Giants in a division play-off game. The New York Giants won the next two games as well, and were declared Super Bowl champions. However, the big story at the time was the relationship between Jessica Simpson (singer and celebrity) and Tony Romo (the Dallas quarterback). Most of the Dallas Cowboys bans blamed Jessica Simpson for the Dallas Cowboys’ loss. They considered her a symbol of bad luck for Tony and declared she caused too much distraction. They did not recognize even once the proficiency of the New York Giants or that Dallas Cowboys might not have performed as well as they could have.
Example 2
Writing essays and short- and long-term papers is a common practice in most educational programs. There are specific styles of writing that are considered acceptable: for example, the American Psychological Association (APA) format and style. Most assignments have 10-20 percent of the total points assigned for following the APA format and style when writing assignments, leaving 80-90 percent of the total marks for the content alone. If a student scores 35 out of 50 on an assignment, the student may blame the APA format for the score and not the fact that the student missed answering many of the questions.
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