What Is Self-Serving Bias in Psychology?

A common example is blaming bad grades on anything but yourself

Medically reviewed by Melissa Bronstein, LICSW

"Self-serving bias" is a psychological term that describes a tendency to attribute success to yourself or internal factors but to blame failure on others or external factors. As its name implies, self-serving bias serves the self by taking credit for positive outcomes (i.e., "I made this success happen") while deflecting accountability for negative outcomes away from the self (i.e., "This failure isn't my fault").

Self-serving bias is also called self-serving attributional bias. When making causal attributions, people with self-serving bias tend to view the causation of events through a distorted lens that protects their ego and enhances self-esteem.

For example, someone with self-serving bias would be quick to pat themselves on the back and attribute internal factors like intelligence to getting a good grade. However, the same person might be inclined to blame the teacher or uncontrollable external factors if they got a bad grade.

Biases in attribution are common. In science, the goal is to make unbiased causal attributions based on objective, evidence-based standards. But in daily life, humans tend to be inherently subjective and biased when attributing causation. Self-serving bias often occurs automatically, on an unconscious level, as a way or a person to safeguard their self-esteem and feel better about themself.

This article gives 21 examples of self-serving bias in different contexts, explains its positive effects, sheds light on its potential downsides, and offers some advice on how to keep excessive amounts of your self-serving bias in check.

21 Examples of Self-Serving Bias

The 21 first-person narratives below are real-life examples of how self-serving bias can be used to attribute success to oneself and internal factors while blaming failure on others or external factors.

In many of these fictional quotations, there may be a grain of truth to the person's attributional style. Self-serving bias isn't necessarily a "good" or "bad" thing; its pros and cons depend on how it's used.

Daily habits/lifestyle:

• "Healthy eating is hard for me because tempting fast-food commercials are always on TV."

• "I'd floss my teeth after every meal if the drugstore near my house sold the brand I like."

• "It's hard for me to keep my BMI low because the medications I take can cause weight gain."

Workplace:

• "My boss has a thing against people like me and refuses to give me any positive feedback."

• "My coworkers always steal my prospective clients, which is why I never achieve my sales goals."

• "I work harder than everybody else; my dedication and perseverance are why I usually succeed."

Academics/school:

• "The teacher did a terrible job preparing me for the final exam, which is why I failed."

• "I attribute my success as a student to internal factors like my multiple intelligences and high IQ."

• "There's no point in me trying to get a high SAT score because standardized tests aren't fair."

Family life:

• "Mom and Dad treated my older brother like a 'golden child'; he always had an unfair advantage."

• "My marriage has lasted so long because I'm a kind and forgiving person with a heart of gold."

• "We would have never gotten divorced if my partner wasn't so self-absorbed and narcissistic."
  

Social life:

• "The main reason I don't get asked out on dates is that my body type isn't in vogue right now."

• "I don't seek approval from others because I know deep down inside that I'm worthy."

• "People with money have more leisure time to socialize; if I was rich, I'd have more friends."

Social media:

• "Celebrities tend to look better than me in selfies because they use flattering filters, but I don't."

• "Trolls say mean things when I post pictures that show off my fabulous life; they're just jealous!"

• "Other YouTubers have more subscribers than me because the algorithm favors their niche."

Sports/exercise:

• "I have lots of willpower but can't reap exercise's health benefits because I can't afford the gym."

• "I can't prevent my opponent from serving aces; I can only control what's in my locus of control."

• "Grit and resilience are all I need to finish a marathon; cheering spectators don't inspire me at all."

Something to consider in the above examples is how the person in each situation could reduce self-serving bias. This would include not blaming external factors for their failures while also holding themselves accountable and being more proactive about changing negative things in their locus of control.

Fundamental Attribution Error vs. Self-Serving Bias

Fundamental attribution error is a tendency to attribute people's behavior solely to their core personality traits while ignoring the potential impact of external situational factors on someone's behavior. An example of this error: assuming that people with neuroticism are never relaxed in social situations.

Fundamental attribution error erroneously attributes everything to people's character traits without considering external factors. Self-serving bias is different from fundamental attribution error because its primary purpose is to protect self-esteem by blaming adverse outcomes on external factors while attributing positive results to internal factors.

What Purpose Does Self-Serving Bias Serve?

Self-serving bias helps people feel better about themselves; it's a self-enhancing attributional bias that boosts self-esteem. Many psychological researchers consider some degree of self-serving bias an effective coping strategy essential to human beings' mental health and subjective well-being.

For example, people with clinical depression often invert self-serving bias. Instead of attributing negative outcomes to others or external factors, they blame themselves when things go wrong. And, if something good does happen, they attribute it to luck or anything but themselves.

Conversely, individuals who are not depressed tend to exhibit self-serving bias by taking credit for their successes and not automatically blaming themselves for failure.

Positive Effects

In small to moderate doses, self-serving bias can have positive effects, such as boosting self-esteem and giving someone the self-belief to keep going in the face of adversity or after a setback.

In the short term, this attributional style has benefits and positive effects, but over time, excessive self-serving bias sabotages your chances of improving and flourishing in the long run. For example, if you never take self-responsibility for shortcomings or failures, it’s impossible to learn from your mistakes and figure out how to do better next time.

Is Self-Serving Bias the Same as Confirmation Bias?

Self-serving bias and confirmation bias are different. Confirmation bias is a tendency to cherry-pick facts that confirm a personal belief. Self-serving bias is a tendency to take credit for personal success but blame others for failure.

Is Self-Serving Bias a Bad Thing?

Self-serving bias is not always a bad thing. There's a sweet spot between having too much or too little self-serving bias that promotes healthy feelings of self-worth and lowers depression risk.

In excess, self-serving bias deflects responsibility for negative outcomes in a way that promotes unrealistic overconfidence and can keep someone in "la-la land." If you never hold yourself accountable for messing up or failing to succeed, it's impossible to learn and grow as a human being.

However, too little self-serving bias isn't necessarily a good thing. If you're always "beating yourself up" or blaming yourself when things go wrong or you aren't successful, it can deteriorate feelings of self-worth and increase your risk of becoming hopeless, depressed, and less perseverant.

Modesty Bias: The Opposite of Self-Serving Bias

Modesty bias is the opposite of self-serving bias. Whereas people with self-serving bias are quick to attribute success to internal factors such as their intelligence or skillfulness, those with modesty bias have trouble attributing personal success or positive outcomes to internal factors.

For example, someone with modesty bias might have a self-deprecating aw-shucks response to being congratulated for achieving a goal. In contrast, someone with self-serving bias would be likelier to bask in the glory of being praised and pat themselves on the back for doing a good job.

How Can You Work on Self-Serving Bias?

Self-awareness is the first step to mitigating self-serving bias. Once you know that self-serving bias is common and happens on a daily basis, you can work towards minimizing it by asking yourself in the moment, "Am I making excuses for myself right now by blaming someone else or an external factor for this less-than-ideal outcome?"

Self-compassion can also help to keep self-serving bias in check. People often use self-serving bias to avoid feeling bad about themselves. Self-compassion reduces negative feelings about oneself because you acknowledge and accept that nobody's perfect. Without the need to constantly protect your ego and self-esteem by blaming others, self-serving bias can subside.

When you succeed, try expressing gratitude and thankfulness to people other than yourself who've played a role in your triumphs and favorable outcomes.

Summary

Self-serving bias is a tendency to take credit for success but blame failure on others. In moderation, self-serving bias has positive effects because it boosts self-esteem and feelings of self-worth. However, too much self-serving bias can backfire.

If you always blame others for your shortcomings or failures, learning from your mistakes and improving is practically impossible. Self-awareness, self-compassion, and expressions of gratitude are three ways to minimize excessive self-serving bias.