Self-serving bias: the tendency to take credit for desirable outcomes and blame factors outside one’s control for undesired outcome, e.g., attributing a job promotion to hard work but failure to get promoted to a bad boss. What accounts for this tendency? Here are four possibilities (none of which are mutually exclusive):
Motivational: to boost self-esteem (self-enhancement) or preserve reputation (self-presentation).
Cognitive: we take credit for outcomes we actively pursue because we easily remember the actions we took to achieve the outcome. Since we don’t actively pursue undesirable outcomes, we experience them as unconnected to our behavior or attributes. Basically, success is experienced as linked to behavior (or the attributes underlying behavior) and failure feels like an accident.
Empirical: when is a bias not a bias? When it is empirically justified. Outcomes are more or less connected to behaviors, depending on the context. One can’t just assume that taking credit or casting blame are “biases” - you have to investigate the matter further. Humans would not have survived to the present age without being pretty good at tracking reality.
Consequences: insofar as desirable outcomes are linked to goal-directed behaviors, taking credit for such outcomes strengthens self-efficacy - the confidence that we can do what it takes to achieve a goal. Self-efficacy predicts persistence in the face of obstacles and continued success in achieving goals. Attributing undesirable outcomes to external factors makes it easier to disengage from certain goal pursuits, which is sometimes a good thing (and sometimes not). The expression of self-serving bias may also protect or improve one’s standing within a group or organization.
The “use-value” of self-serving bias is in its consequences: the real-world benefits* of the bias and its expression. The “truth-value” of self-serving bias is the extent to which it has a point.
* Of course, biases have potential costs as well as benefits. Downplaying the role of external factors like luck can make one overconfident and reckless. Blaming bad outcomes on external forces makes it harder to learn from one’s mistakes. In some circles, taking responsibility for bad outcomes is a much admired trait, especially when coupled with plans and actions to achieve a better outcome.
Next: How does' ‘locus of control’ influence behavior and the consequences of behavior?
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References:
Liao S.M. (2011) Bias and Reasoning: Haidt’s Theory of Moral Judgment. In: Brooks T. (eds) New Waves in Ethics. New Waves in Philosophy. Palgrave Macmillan, London https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/9780230305885_7#citeas
Miller, D. T., & Ross, M. (1975). Self-serving biases in the attribution of causality: Fact or fiction? Psychological Bulletin, 82(2), 213-225. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/h0076486
Shepperd, James; Malone, Wendi; Sweeny, Kate (2008). "Exploring Causes of the Self-serving Bias". Social and Personality Psychology Compass. 2 (2): 895–908. doi:10.1111/j.1751-9004.2008.00078.x