No. 311 · Your own mind · Heuristics and Bias
Self-Serving Bias
We take credit for our successes and blame our failures on everything else.
In the Almanac
“The stab in the back”, 1918–1919 · “Lehman Brothers”, 2008
Both stories in full, three ways to use it and where it misleads.
Get the AlmanacQuestions
What is Self-Serving Bias?
Self-Serving Bias is our tendency to take credit when things go well and blame outside forces when they go badly. It protects our ego, but it hides the lessons that failure is trying to teach us.
How do you avoid Self-Serving Bias?
To counter it, review wins and losses with the same question: how much was me, and how much was circumstance? Keep written predictions, own your part in conflicts first, and be suspicious of any explanation that conveniently flatters you.
When does Self-Serving Bias matter?
Self-Serving Bias is one of the 31 mental models for your own mind, the situations where you ask: Is my own thinking leading me astray? Within that, it belongs to “Judging yourself, and your luck”, alongside Birth Lottery, Dunning-Kruger Effect and Fixed Mindset vs Growth Mindset.
What is an example of Self-Serving Bias?
Two stories show it at work: The stab in the back (1918–1919) and Lehman Brothers (2008). Both are told in full in The Mental Models Daily Almanac, which has two stories for each of its 365 models.
Which mental models are related to Self-Serving Bias?
Fundamental Attribution Error, Post Mortem and Hindsight Bias. Self-Serving Bias itself comes from heuristics and bias.