actor observer bias psychology definition

Moreover, a self-serving bias is considered by many researchers to be essential for an individual’s mental health and adaptive functions ( Taylor and Brown, 1994 Heine et al., 1999 Mezulis et al., 2004 Sedikides and Alicke, 2012). These positive beliefs about the self can be manifested through what is known as the “self-serving bias,” which refers to individuals taking responsibility for success but blaming others for failure ( Miller and Ross, 1975 Miller, 1976, 1978 Larson, 1977 Bradley, 1978, 1979 Sedikides et al., 1998 Duval and Silvia, 2002 Mezulis et al., 2004). It is thought to be a fundamental need of individuals to try to maintain positive beliefs about themselves ( Heine et al., 1999 Mezulis et al., 2004 Sedikides and Alicke, 2012). Moreover, the self-serving bias was shown to be immune to situation in unambiguous contexts, but it did depend on factors associated with the events per se, such as the actor versus recipient role that the self played in interpersonal events. Our findings provide evidence for the existence of the self-serving bias in unambiguous contexts. Additionally, the self-serving bias was greater in the actor condition relative to the recipient condition (Study 1), and this effect was not affected by the level of self-awareness, which was manipulated by the use or otherwise of a camera during the experiment (Study 2).

The results showed that, in an unambiguous context, participants exhibited self-serving bias in relation to attribution associated with negative interpersonal events. The aim of this study was to explore whether there is a self-serving bias in unambiguous contexts and to examine whether it is as sensitive to situation as it has been shown to be in ambiguous contexts. The present study features an unambiguous context encompassing interpersonal events that involved implicit causality (with the “self” as an actor or recipient), the inherent logic of which indicated attribution criteria. Prior studies have confirmed that the self-serving bias is pervasive in the general population, yet it varies significantly across situations involving ambiguous contexts. Traditionally, the self-serving bias has been investigated in ambiguous contexts in which participants work on tasks that measure novel abilities before making attributions without clear criteria for success or failure feedback. 5Shanghai Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance, School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China.4Zhejiang Yuying Education Group, Hangzhou, China.3Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics, Ministry of Education, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics, School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China.2Shanghai Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance, Department of Physics, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China.1School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China.Xiaoyan Wang 1 Li Zheng 1,2,3 Lin Li 1 Yijie Zheng 2 Peng Sun 1 Fanzhi A.

Actor observer bias psychology definition