Self-Serving Attributions in the Face of Reality: The Effect of Task Outcome and Potential Causes on Self-Other Attributions
实验研究人际判断任务中，人们如何为自己的成功或失败以及他人的结果进行自利归因，发现任务结果会改变自利倾向，但被试从不承认他人比自己更努力。
This experiment investigated self-serving attribution strategies designed to account for one's own and another's success or failure at an interpersonal judgment task. Using the dimensions of stability and locus of potential causes first proposed by Weiner, analysis was made of self-other differences in attributions of ability, task difficulty, effort, and luck. Results showed that the tendency toward self-serving attributions was modified by the reality constraints of relative task outcomes, with one exception. Regardless of outcomes, subjects never admitted that the other exerted more effort than they did at the task. For the other potential causes, self-other differences in attributions were dependent on the observed outcomes. The results are discussed in light of the stability and locus characteristics of each potential cause and the complex concerns that govern self-serving attributions.