Final answer:
Attribution is the psychological concept where reasons for success or failure are assigned either internally or externally. A self-serving bias leads to internal attributions for success and external to failures, while self-efficacy is confidence in one's abilities.
Step-by-step explanation:
Taking responsibility, blaming oneself, or applying external events to oneself when there is no basis or evidence for making those connections is known as attribution. Attribution is a key concept in psychology that involves how people interpret and assign causes to events and behaviors.
For instance, people often use a self-serving bias to explain their successes and failures. This bias involves making internal attributions for successes ("I'm smart because I aced the exam") and external attributions for failures ("The exam was unfair, that's why I failed").
The self-efficacy level is our confidence in our abilities to manage and execute tasks effectively. It is different from attribution, although both concepts relate to how individuals perceive their actions and outcomes. When people face cognitive dissonance, they experience psychological discomfort due to their actions, beliefs, or attitudes conflicting with their self-image, for example, smoking despite believing it is unhealthy. An individual's self-regulation, also known as internal locus of control, reflects their belief in controlling their outcomes.
Lastly, the denial of responsibility is when an individual fails to take accountability for their actions, instead, attributing the blame to external factors or other individuals. This type of attribution can lead to skewed perceptions and potential mental health issues, such as depression if the person habitually makes negative attributions about themselves.