Immune to Situation: The Self-Serving Bias in Unambiguous Contexts
Xiaoyan Wang1, Li Zheng1,2,3, Lin Li1
1School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal UniversityShanghai, China.
Frontiers in Psychology
|June 8, 2017
Summary
The self-serving bias exists even in clear situations, particularly for negative interpersonal events. This bias is stronger when individuals act as the "self" actor versus a recipient and is unaffected by self-awareness.
Area of Science:
- Social Psychology
- Cognitive Bias Research
Background:
- The self-serving bias is typically studied in ambiguous situations where success/failure is unclear.
- Previous research confirms its prevalence but highlights situational variability.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the self-serving bias in unambiguous interpersonal contexts.
- To determine if the bias's sensitivity to situational factors differs from ambiguous contexts.
Main Methods:
- Utilized an unambiguous context involving interpersonal events with implicit causality.
- Manipulated the "self" as either an actor or recipient in Study 1.
- Manipulated self-awareness using a camera in Study 2.
Main Results:
- Self-serving bias was observed in attributions for negative interpersonal events within an unambiguous context.
- The bias was more pronounced when the self was an actor compared to a recipient.
- Self-awareness did not influence the self-serving bias.
Conclusions:
- Provides evidence for the self-serving bias in unambiguous contexts.
- The self-serving bias in unambiguous contexts is situationally immune but event-dependent (actor vs. recipient role).
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