A self serving bias is a cognitive bias which tends to enhance the ego and self confidence of an individual, through a variety of processes. Many people demonstrate self serving bias on some level or another, since most people have a desire to be successful, strong individuals. Being aware of the processes behind a self serving bias can help you to evaluate your performance and progress more critically, and it will allow you to use things like failures as learning experiences.

The most classic example of a self serving bias is the tendency of people to attribute success to their personalities, and failure to external factors. In this way, people credit themselves for doing well, which enhances their self esteem, and they plead out of responsibility for failures. For example, if you pass your driving test on the first try, you might say that this was due to the fact you studied hard and you are a good driver. If you fail the test, you might blame the examiner, the car, or the weather, rather than admitting that you did not demonstrate safe and effective driving skills.

Another aspect of the self serving bias is the tendency to interpret unclear information in a way which is favorable to you. For example, if an instructor for a course you are taking says that “only two people got As on the final,” you may assume that one of these persons was yourself. Many people also exhibit systemic bias as part of a self serving bias; systemic bias involves a personal belief that you perform better in areas which are important to your self esteem. For example, someone who wants to become a doctor might believe that his or her biology skills are better than those of the average person.

The tendency to emphasize success and minimize failure can be very dangerous. By focusing on success only, people shortchange themselves of learning experiences from their failures. In the driving test example above, for example, the student could admit that he or she failed because of imperfect driving skills. This admission would allow the student to ask the examiner for suggestions in areas which need improvement, so that the student could study these weak spots and pass the test on the second try.

The self serving bias can also lead to a pernicious situation called self handicapping. Taking our driving test example one step further, if someone is routinely told that he or she will probably fail on the first time, the student might study and practice less, so that the student could blame situational factors like lack of practice for failure on the driving test. When someone engages in self handicapping, he or she may seek out safe situations in which success is guaranteed, rather than pushing to do better and risking failure now and then.