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Related Concept Videos

Self-Serving Bias01:29

Self-Serving Bias

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Self-serving bias is a cognitive phenomenon in which individuals attribute positive outcomes to internal factors such as their abilities, intelligence, or effort while attributing negative outcomes to external circumstances. This cognitive distortion helps maintain self-esteem but can also impede objective self-assessment.Theoretical Explanations of Self-Serving BiasTwo primary theories explain the self-serving bias: the cognitive explanation and the motivational explanation.The cognitive...
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Bias refers to any tendency that prevents a question from being considered unprejudiced. In research, bias occurs when one outcome or answer is selected or encouraged over others in sampling or testing. Bias can occur during any research phase, including study design, data collection, analysis, and publication.
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Correspondence bias, also referred to as the fundamental attribution error, describes the tendency to attribute another person’s behavior to internal characteristics rather than situational influences. This cognitive bias leads individuals to overlook external factors that may be influencing actions, thereby fostering potentially inaccurate assessments of others’ intentions and dispositions.Empirical Evidence for Correspondence BiasResearch has consistently demonstrated the...
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Cognitive bias results from limitations in thinking and information processing, leading to systematic errors in judgment. Conversely, motivational bias stems from personal desires or emotions, causing distortions in perception to align with self-interest. Motivational bias influences how individuals perceive and attribute causes to events, often shaped by personal needs, goals, and self-esteem preservation. This bias can distort judgment, leading to inaccurate assessments of success, failure,...
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Assessment of Memory Function in Pilocarpine-induced Epileptic Mice
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Self-Serving Bias in Memories.

Yanchi Zhang1, Zhe Pan1, Kai Li2

  • 11 School of Psychology, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, PR China.

Experimental Psychology
|September 1, 2018
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

People protect their self-image by selectively forgetting negative feedback. This study reveals a self-serving memory bias, where individuals forget negative information is linked to themselves.

Keywords:
connectionforgettingnegative informationself-image

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Last Updated: Feb 5, 2026

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Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Social Psychology
  • Neuroscience

Background:

  • Humans possess a fundamental need to protect their self-image.
  • Forgetting serves as a key mechanism for maintaining a positive self-perception.
  • Individuals exhibit impaired recall for negative self-referential feedback but intact recognition.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the memory mechanisms underlying the self-serving bias.
  • To examine how individuals process and recall negative self-related information.
  • To determine if memory deficits are specific to recall or recognition of negative self-feedback.

Main Methods:

  • Two experiments were conducted involving participants judging trait adjectives (positive/negative) describing themselves or others.
  • Participants completed old-new recognition tasks and source attribution tasks.
  • Source memory accuracy and recognition performance were analyzed based on word valence and self-reference.

Main Results:

  • No significant differences were found in old-new recognition or source guessing bias based on word valence.
  • Source memory was significantly impaired when participants processed negative self-referenced words compared to other conditions.
  • Memory for the association between negative valence and self-identity was selectively hindered.

Conclusions:

  • The findings support a self-serving bias in memory, specifically affecting the recall of negative self-related information.
  • This bias appears to operate by weakening the memory link between negative feedback and the self.
  • Individuals may forget negative information is about them to preserve their positive self-image.