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What is the self-serving bias? And how is it different from the fundamental attribution error?

User The Great
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Final answer:

The self-serving bias is when we attribute success to internal factors and failure to external factors to protect self-esteem. The fundamental attribution error is when we underestimate situational factors and overestimate dispositional factors when explaining others' behavior.

Step-by-step explanation:

The self-serving bias refers to the tendency to attribute success to internal factors and failure to external factors, in order to maintain self-esteem. For example, if you ace an exam, you might attribute your success to your intelligence, but if you fail, you might blame it on the difficult questions. This bias serves to protect self-esteem and is influenced by culture.

The fundamental attribution error, on the other hand, is the tendency to underestimate the impact of situational factors and overestimate the influence of dispositional factors when explaining others' behavior. An example is attributing someone's poor performance in a quiz to their lack of intelligence, while ignoring the fact that they were given difficult questions. This error is more prevalent in individualistic cultures.

User Garry
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