Exploring causes of the self-serving bias
Shepperd, Malone and Sweeny review explanations of the self-serving bias, motivational (self-enhancement, self-presentation) and cognitive (expectations, self-schemas, actions, biased hypothesis testing, standards of proof), and argue that motivation and cognition work together and that the bias has several causes at once. The review notes that claiming credit can win approval but that large claims can seem boastful, so claims are often toned down in public; it cites a study in which members claimed more credit for group success in private than in public; and it describes the group-serving bias.
Shepperd, Malone and Sweeny review explanations of the self-serving bias, motivational (self-enhancement, self-presentation) and cognitive (expectations, self-schemas, actions, biased hypothesis testing, standards of proof), and argue that motivation and cognition work together and that the bias has several causes at once. The review notes that claiming credit can win approval but that large claims can seem boastful, so claims are often toned down in public; it cites a study in which members claimed more credit for group success in private than in public; and it describes the group-serving bias.
Written from the full text of the review as fetched and summarised, University of Florida author copy, 2026-11-03.
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Shepperd, J., Malone, W., & Sweeny, K. (2008). Exploring causes of the self-serving bias. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 2(2), 895-908. doi:10.1111/j.1751-9004.2008.00078.x https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1751-9004.2008.00078.x