Predicting the Interpersonal Targets of Self-Serving Attributions

Predicting the Interpersonal Targets of Self-Serving Attributions

People will, under certain conditions, attribute failure to an external target to avoid an unfavorable self-evaluation. But to what external target do people attribute failure? Based on Fritz Heider's analysis of similarity and attribution, we predicted that failure—a negative event—would be at...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of experimental social psychology Vol. 37; no. 4; pp. 333 - 340
Main Authors: Silvia, Paul J., Duval, T.Shelley
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: San Diego, CA Elsevier Inc 01-07-2001
Elsevier
Academic Press
Subjects:
Biological and medical sciences
Failure
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Groups
Interpersonal relations
Motivation
Psychology
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Self image
Self-esteem
Self-interest
Social attribution, perception and cognition
Social psychology
Human
Locus of control
Attitude
Self evaluation
Social interaction
Personality
Attribution
Failure
Interpersonal relation
Cognitive bias
Social cognition
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Summary:People will, under certain conditions, attribute failure to an external target to avoid an unfavorable self-evaluation. But to what external target do people attribute failure? Based on Fritz Heider's analysis of similarity and attribution, we predicted that failure—a negative event—would be attributed to a similarly negative external target. Participants worked on a task ostensibly created by three other people and received failure feedback. Self-awareness was either high or low, and people believed that their likelihood of improving in the future was either high or low. The valence of the fictional group members was manipulated such that one member was positive, another was mildly negative, and the third was highly negative. As in past research, highly self-aware persons who could not improve their failure attributed failure externally, relative to the other conditions. Consistent with Heider's analysis, these participants perceived the negative group members as being responsible for their failure relative to self and the positive group member. Implications for the self-serving bias are discussed.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-2
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ISSN:0022-1031
1096-0465
DOI:10.1006/jesp.2000.1468