Self-Serving Bias
February 05, 2025 | 12:00 PM
A short note on the self-serving bias: how we tend to credit our successes to skill and effort, while conveniently outsourcing failures to external circumstances. Understanding this bias is useful for more honest self-evaluation, better learning from mistakes, and clearer judgment of both wins and losses.
I won the match because I practiced for 100 long hours, but if I lost, it was due to the umpire's bad decision or wind speed or bad equipment.
Individuals justify success with their work, strengths, responsibilities, but believe that the cause for their faults and failures were external factors.
For wins, individuals reward themselves and for the loses they criticize other situational factors.
Why?
Ego and Self-esteem.
P.S : When any failure occurs, ask yourself "Was it because of the situational factors or because of my own?"