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Attributions, deception, and event related potentials: an investigation of the self-serving bias
Elizabeth A Krusemark1, W Keith Campbell, Brett A Clementz
1Department of Psychology, BioImaging Research Center, University of Georgia, 429 Psychology Building, Athens, GA 30602, USA. bdlisk@uga.edu
Abstract:
Self-serving attributions occur when negative personal outcomes are ascribed to external circumstances and when positive outcomes are ascribed to internal factors. Individuals strategically employ the self-serving bias to maintain and protect positive self-views. The current study investigated the neural correlates of the self-serving bias using dense array EEG, giving 20 participants false (success or failure) feedback during a facial working memory task. Participants made self-serving attributions during the task, primarily following failure feedback. Voltage and source analyses in response to attribution stimuli revealed that, compared to self-serving responses, non-self-serving attributions were preceded by enhanced dorsomedial frontal cortex activity. This finding suggests that unbiased attributions require greater self-control, overriding the automatic tendency for self-enhancement.
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