- The Kaizen
- Posts
- The Self-Serving Bias
The Self-Serving Bias
You’re probably familiar with self-serving bias, even if you don’t know it by name. A self-serving bias is the common habit of a person taking credit for positive events or outcomes but blaming outside factors for negative events. Just from reading that, you can probably picture a friend who has this problem. Maybe you are the friend who blames everything bad that happens on someone else but loves to suck up the credit for all the good outcomes.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one.”
SELF-SERVING BIAS
339 Words | 1 Min 17 Sec Read
You’re probably familiar with self-serving bias, even if you don’t know it by name.
A self-serving bias is the common habit of a person taking credit for positive events or outcomes but blaming outside factors for negative events. Just from reading that, you can probably picture a friend who has this problem. Maybe you are the friend who blames everything bad that happens on someone else but loves to suck up the credit for all the good outcomes.
To put this into an example: A student gets a good grade on a test and tells herself that she studied hard or is good at the material. She gets a bad grade on another test and says the teacher doesn’t like her or the test was unfair.
So why is this a problem? It makes sense to not take any of the backlash for the bad things that happen and take the credit for the good, as you can avoid any self-blame. The problem here is that if you are always blaming someone else for the losses or failures, then you will never find a way to improve. If it’s always the referee’s fault that you lost that game, then you will never feel the need to up your game, and you will go through life pointing fingers at others rather than noticing the three pointing back at you.
Why do we do this?
We do this because of the need to maintain our own self-worth. If an individual uses the self-serving bias, attributing positive things to themselves and negative things to outside forces helps them maintain a positive self-image and self-worth.
For example, say you’re playing baseball and strike out. If you believe the umpire unfairly called strikes when you actually received bad pitches, you can maintain the idea that you’re a good hitter.
ACTIONABLE NEXT STEPS:
Take responsibility for every outcome, good or bad; this way, it’s a true reflection on your skills, and you can improve when necessary and reap the rewards of your hard work when necessary too.
This is the only way you’re able to continuously grow, and you’ll find that you will be much happier overall when you know you’re in control of the outcome.
TAKEAWAYS:
Taking credit for positive outcomes and blaming others for negative outcomes will turn you into an extremely sour person.
BOOK OF THE WEEK ⤵️
The book of the week is ‘Who moved my cheese?’ It’s a book that takes the fear and anxiety out of managing the future and shows people a simple way to successfully deal with the changing times, providing them with a method for moving ahead with their work and lives safely and effectively. Check it out HERE
CREATOR OF THE WEEK ⤵️
The creator of the week is @Luasmuelr, a self-improvement creator who makes content all around helping you become your best self. His content is quick, easy to consume, and will surely be your daily dose of motivation. Check him out above.
LESSON OF THE DAY ⤵️
Luck doesn’t just happen, it’s created. You can do things to increase the odds of serendipity.
What did you think of today's edition?(this helps us make tomorrow a better edition) |