Self-Serving Biases
We don’t see the world as it is. We see the world as we are. We see the world from our perspective and believe that our perspective represents reality. However, we don’t realise that, like us, other people also have their own perspective, and for them, we lie on the periphery, and they in the centre. It matters to us more when our tooth is aching, or we are having a headache than if hundreds of people are killed in a war in some part of the world or millions of people go hungry at night.
You may recall the #MeToo movement in 2017, where several high-profile actresses opened up about their experiences of sexual harassment in the film industry. The movement provided solidarity for women from all backgrounds who experienced sexual harassment, usually at their workplace by their male colleagues. I wrote a couple of answers on this issue on the world’s largest question-answering platform Quora, but I found the opinions divided. While most of the women supported the #MeToo movement, the majority of the men felt that it was overhyped and that males are unfairly projected as predators and rapists. They believed that many of the allegations may be false, and highlighted just to get publicity. Some of the men also believed that most of the time, women use their sexuality to get jobs and important roles in the film industry and then later blame the males for exploiting them, though their relationship had been consensual. However, most females believe that women suffer casting couch, the practice of soliciting sexual favours from a job applicant in exchange for employment in the film and entertainment industry and that they have no option, but to succumb to the requests of the producers for getting a role. In the same way, most females claimed to face sexual innuendos and misconduct by their bosses and other colleagues. People accept the point of view that suits them. The truth perhaps lies somewhere in between.
We all suffer from self-serving bias as we have the personal experience of feelings relating to our gender, race, religion, caste, culture, traditions, language, region and nation. These attributes form our core identity, which we can’t easily change as per our will. To understand the feelings of people of another gender, religion etc., you must have a high degree of empathy, which most people lack. So, you will find most people defending their country and its policies in the international arena, ignoring the point of view of other countries altogether. Hence, it is not surprising that most Americans would find their country right in their international affairs, and most Indians would support their government’s policies. In the same way, the people who are getting the benefit of the positive discrimination or reservations based on caste, religion, gender or economic status support the policy and find it justiciable and even inevitable. However, the people who lose their benefits due to these policies find them unfair and unjust.
Interestingly, the rich people who oppose reservation and positive discrimination don’t find any fault in getting seats in the top educational institutions due to donations and family affiliations. In his book ‘The Tyranny of Merit: What’s Become of the Common Good?’, Harvard professor Michael J. Sandel states that two-thirds of the students at Harvard and Stanford come from the top fifth of the income scale. Despite generous financial aid policies, fewer than 4 per cent of Ivy League students come from the bottom fifth. He adds further, “At Harvard and other Ivy League colleges, there are more students from families in the top 1 per cent (income of more than $630,000 per year) than there are students from all the families in the bottom half of the income distribution combined”. The disproportionate representation of students from wealthy families is due to the better quality of education and also due to the donations given by their parents. Sandal give some examples in his book, like, “Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, had been admitted to Harvard despite a modest academic record after his father, a wealthy real estate developer, had donated $2.5 million to the university. Trump himself reportedly gave $1.5 million to the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania around the time his children Donald Jr. and Ivanka attended the school”. [1]
So, if you are born into a rich and influential family, you see nothing wrong in your parents giving you preference in education and employment. However, the people from ordinary families find this practice wrong and call it nepotism.
We suffer from many types of biases as our worldview is self-centric. Let us now discuss some specific types of biases that creep into our thinking so naturally that we don’t even acknowledge them, though almost everyone else can notice such biases in us.
(a) Attribution Bias
There is a famous saying that success is a bastard as it has many fathers, and failure is an orphan, with no takers. When you achieve success in life, almost everyone tries to take the credit; parents, teachers, society, nation or organisation, whether or not they have played any significant role in your success. On the other side, when you fail, hardly anyone is willing to take responsibility. However, the perspective of the individuals is just the opposite. Most people tend to give themselves credit for their successes but lay the blame for failures on others, or outside causes. This is a form of self-serving bias as we attribute the credit or blame of success and failure in such a way that benefits us the most. We construct the reality that suits us and conveniently ignore the role played by numerous other people and society in our success.
We perceive reality differently depending upon who is involved. When people themselves suffer failure or something negative outcome, they attribute it to external factors. However, when other people fail, they attribute their failure to internal causes. For example, when you fail to score good marks in an examination, you blame your bad luck, illness, teachers or parents for the failure. But when another student fails, you blame his lack of motivation, laziness, and lack of concentration for his failure.
Similarly, when you find during the medical examination that your glucose level is high, you blame genetics, your boss, your family and stress in your job, which are outside your control. However, when it comes to others, you blame his dietary habits, his type A personality and his laziness or lack of physical activity for diabetes. Interestingly, the nature of asymmetry is reversed when it comes to success. So, when we achieve success in life, we attribute our success to internal factors like motivation, hard work, focus, and strategy. However, when other people are more successful than us, we usually attribute their success to external factors like their parents, teachers, environments, or luck.
Such cognitive bias is called attribution bias, which is also sometimes called actor-observer bias or actor-observer asymmetry, which was first introduced in 1971 by social psychologists Jones and Nisbett. [2]
We can also see the attribution bias at play when it comes to our loved ones. When our loved ones or friends fail, we often blame the external causes which were beyond their control. However, when your enemy, opponent, or people whom you hate fail, it is always their fault. Similarly, your enemies succeed due to their treachery, mischief, fraud or good luck (if you can’t attribute any negative quality to them), but you and your loved ones succeed always due to their hard work, dedication and intelligence.
The attribution bias can sometimes lead to blaming the victims for their failures. So, if other people are poor in your country or society, it is due to their laziness, ignorance and lack of motivation However, when you are poor, it is due to bad government policies, corruption, costly education, coaching centres, and nepotism responsible for it. If a woman is raped, it is her fault as she was dressed indecently, given some wrong signals, or trying to blackmail the man. However, when a woman from your family suffers molestation, you attribute the problem to poor law and order, pornography, the falling values in society, and the molester.
(b) False Consensus or Confirmation Bias
We often fail to notice the difference in opinions and appreciate the perspectives of other people. As a result, there is usually an overestimation of how much other people agree with us or approve of our behaviour. The false consensus effect (FCE) describes the tendency of people to “see one’s own behavioural choices and judgments as relatively common and appropriate to existing circumstances while viewing alternative responses as uncommon, deviant, or inappropriate.” [3]
According to the studies, there are three main reasons for false consensus,
- Our family usually share similar beliefs and behaviours, and we usually select friends who share similar traits and beliefs.
- It feels good for our self-esteem to believe that most people in the world think and act like us.
- We are the most familiar with our own attitudes and beliefs and we are more likely to notice when other people share similar attitudes. [4]
We tend to listen more often to information that confirms our existing beliefs. For example, suppose you are against positive discrimination policies or reservations of jobs based on caste. In that case, you will most likely only read such articles or listen to arguments favouring your viewpoint. If you come across articles pointing out the benefits of positive discrimination, you may avoid reading them, as it is pretty unpleasant to listen to what is disagreeable to us. As a result, you gather more information in favour of your point of view and believe that your point of view is correct, as so many experts validate those. You may ignore the information that is against your beliefs, and thus, you tend to develop a confirmation bias. Such biases may provide you with the comfort of being right, but these opinions are biased and far from the truth.
(c) Gender Bias
We usually consider the role of our gender more important than the other. We typically prefer our gender over the other. Sometimes, gender bias leads to gender roles and stereotypes. We like the stereotype that suits us and puts us in an advantageous position. For example, the women often expect the men to be a provider, while the men want the women to be homemakers and take care of the family.
(d) Attitude Bias
Our attitude plays a vital role in our perception of the world. If we are optimistic, we look at the positive side of life and see the glass as half-filled. However, a pessimistic person sees the glass half empty and finds the world full of evil with no hope for its betterment. So, optimists overestimate the likelihood that good things will happen to them while underestimating the probability of negative events. The assessment of pessimists is just the opposite.
Our optimism or pessimism further gets magnified with time as we also often suffer from affinity bias which means the preference for people who share similar qualities, interests and experiences with us. We are more likely to connect with people like us and see more positive qualities in them as compared to those with whom we have little affinity. When we like a person, we can see only the good things in him, while hating a person makes us see only the evil side of the person.
(e) Habit Bias
We have a natural tendency to justify our habits. If we are smokers, we usually have multiple reasons to justify smoking. When someone objects and presents scientific evidence to explain the harm of smoking, we may quickly give an example of the smokers who lived a healthy life, and also of non-smokers who suffered health problems.
An honest person sees merit in honesty, while a corrupt person justifies his corruption. So, an honest person would present many examples of corrupt people who were arrested and lost reputations. On the other hand, a corrupt person usually gives examples of corrupt persons who made huge money but never faced any problems. They may give the example of the honest people who have suffered in the system to justify their corruption. While our actions and habits are due to our reason and beliefs, our logic and reasons also change according to our actions.
For example, if you don’t go to the temple regularly, you have enough reason not to visit temples, like there is no God, or God lives within us, or God is everywhere etc. However, if you start going to the temple for any reason like you are in distress or due to the insistence of your spouse, you will then find sufficient reasons for going to the temple, and you can list several benefits of going to temples regularly like I get peace there, there is a lot of spiritual energy in the temple etc. The same holds for the people who exercise regularly and those who don’t. However, when a corrupt person becomes honest, or an honest person becomes corrupt, his reasoning changes so that his actions and thoughts are aligned with each other.
(f) Ideological Bias
We are also biased due to our ideals and principles. Our ideological biases are most visible in the matter of politics and public policies. Most people are emotional about their favourite political personality or party and defend their leaders. If their favourite political party is in power, they focus on the merits of the decisions taken by the government while ignoring the demerits. However, when their party is in opposition, they may find everything wrong in the government’s actions. The same holds true for religions. Most people are emotionally attached to their religion and they can’t withstand any criticism of their faith. On the other side, they miss no opportunity to criticise other religions and their practices.
Each human being is unique, and the truth can’t change according to the convenience of the people. Hence, when we have an ideological bias, our views conflict with those of other people who hold different ideologies. To maintain a good and lasting relationship, we must understand that there are different ideologies in the world, and no ideology is perfect; otherwise, it would have replaced all other ideologies. Hence, we must understand, tolerate and respect other ideologies to overcome such biases. [5]
(g) Estimation Bias
Statistically speaking, for any group of people, half the people are above average while the remaining half must be below average. There can be no exception to this rule. However, in the real world, most people consider themselves above average. In a classic 1977 study, 94 per cent of professors rated themselves above average relative to their peers. Studies have also estimated that most people overestimate how charitable they’ll be in future donation drives, but accurately guess their peers’ donations.
David Dunning, a psychologist at Cornell University who has studied the effect for decades, said that this phenomenon, known as illusory superiority, is so stubbornly persistent that psychologists would be surprised if it didn’t show up in their studies. However, the trend varies with culture. For example, according to During, “North Americans seem to be the kings and queens of overestimation. If you go to places like Japan, Korea or China, this whole phenomenon evaporates ….That is possibly because Eastern cultures value self-improvement, while Western culture tends to value self-esteem.” [6]
(h) Hindsight Bias
The hindsight bias reflects the tendency of people to convince themselves after an event that they accurately predicted it before it happened. The hindsight bias occurs when new information comes to light about a past experience, which changes how we recall that experience. Usually, we selectively remember only the information that confirms the outcome while ignoring the information that turned out to be wrong. As a result, we feel that we already know what is coming. [7]
For example, a couple of days after every terrorist attack in a country, news usually is floated that the government has the intelligence about the terrorist attack, but they failed to take action. When the exact content of the intelligence is revealed, people interpret it based on the already known fact (terrorist attack) and come to the conclusion that if the government agencies had acted, they could have prevented the attack. However, the same intelligence would look less actionable before an attack because it will usually have general information and a possibility of an attack.
It is essential to understand that the word ‘may’ also includes ‘may not’. So, if a person says that he may succeed in a competition, he also expresses that he ‘may not’ succeed in an examination. Hence, he can interpret the word ‘may’ according to the situation after the result and justify his prediction. Suppose a person smokes cigarettes regularly but also maintains physical fitness. Now, if the person gets cancer, many of his friends would claim that they expected him to get cancer due to smoking. However, if he lives long, the same friends would praise his healthy lifestyle for a long life, discounting his smoking habits. We tend to weave the story backwards based on the latest facts and believe that we know what is coming.
The problem with hindside bias is that we falsely consider ourselves smarter than others and believe that we can accurately predict the future. As a result, we take bold decisions based on intuition and suffer when they go wrong.
(i) Benevolence Illusion
“Whoever you are, or whatever it is that you do, when you really want something, it’s because that desire originated in the soul of the universe,” says Paulo Coehlo in his book ‘The Alchemist’. He then convinces the readers by saying, “When you want something, the whole universe conspires in order for you to achieve it.”
In reality, everyone is seeking the fulfilment of their wish and hardly anyone else in the world (except your loved ones) is concerned about what you want in life. If you wish to succeed in the world, you have to work hard to grow, and it would be unwise to expect the universe to conspire to fulfil your will. People have their priorities, just like you, and they are more interested in their own successes than yours. Just as you don’t devote your time and energy to fulfilling other people’s goals, so do the other people.
Usually, life is a zero-sum game. When you succeed in life, someone fails. Hence, instead of cooperation, most people are engaged in fierce competition to win over others. Hence, considering the world’s benevolence may increase your hope unrealistically and make false assumptions about the nature of the world, which is likely to reduce your chances of success rather than increase them.
(j) Relativity Bias
If you dip your hand in water at the normal temperature, it may look hot or cold depending on where you dipped your hand earlier. If you have earlier dipped your hand in the cold water, the water at a normal temperature would appear hot. However, the same water may appear cold to a person if you have earlier dipped his hand in the hot water.
We have the tendency to assess things in a relative sense rather than making an accurate and absolute assessment of reality. We evaluate the value of something by comparing it with another object. A millionaire may feel miserable, if he had been earlier a billionaire, while for an ordinary person, being a millionaire is nothing less than being a king. If you have been suffering a bad time for a long time, leading an ordinary life can be bliss, but the same ordinary life becomes unbearable if you had been living a great life earlier.
Unfortunately, we have a short memory and we fail to evaluate the absolute value of an experience. You do not become poor because other people are richer, nor do you become rich when you live among the destitute. The health parameters of a person are always absolute and never relative.
Albert Einstein once explained the theory of relativity by saying, “When you sit with a nice girl for two hours you think it’s only a minute, but when you sit on a hot stove for a minute you think it’s two hours. That’s relativity.” However, the time of one minute must be the same for all, if you think objectively. Everyone may not enjoy sitting with a pretty girl in the same way, and may not feel a two hour equal to a minute. So, it is better to rely on the watch to know the actual time lapsed rather than measuring the time based on your feelings.
Overcoming Self-serving Biases
For millions of years, humankind considered the Earth the centre of the universe. However, human progress started only when people focused on objectively knowing reality instead of what it appeared or felt. Whether we like it or not, the fact remains that Earth is just a tiny planet even within the solar system, which is part of a galaxy, and there are millions of galaxies in the universe. So, it is better to realise that we are one in several billion species in this world and that the world does not revolve around us. If we wish to understand the world, we must consider ourselves as part of the world, like billions of other humans.
The self-serving or confirmation bias exists whenever we use intuition and emotions to make decisions. Emotional decisions are based on feelings. Accordingly, whatever feels good seems to be right, and whatever feels bad appears to be incorrect. Our emotional decisions try to maximise our happiness and minimise our pain. Hence, they present the world’s picture in a way that makes us happy. Hence, the self-serving bias is useful to some extent, as it makes us happier. The opposite attitude may lead us to despair. We choose our reasons and logic based on what we are and what we wish to achieve in life. Noreena Hertz, an English academic, economist, and author, asserts, “All of us show bias when it comes to what information we take in. We typically focus on anything that agrees with the outcome we want.”
The studies have also found that people who are depressed or have anxiety usually don’t overrate themselves. The more severe the depression, the more likely they are to underrate themselves. So, the illusion of superiority may actually be a protective mechanism that shields our self-esteem and is good for mental health. [6]
However, the illusion of excessive superiority can create a problem since our beliefs drive our actions. So, incorrect beliefs may lead to erroneous actions, which may further reinforce our beliefs and make us even more biased. For example, a corrupt government officer may believe that corruption is a way of life and that honesty is impractical. So, the person may gather more information to support his belief, by highlighting the cases when honest people are victimised or faced suffering, and at the same time finding more examples of corrupt people who go unpunished, and enjoy their life. As a result, he would be even more corrupt in his dealings, which may lead to developing the reputation of a corrupt person. One day, the person may get caught and go to prison, all his property gets confiscated, and he ends up losing all honour.
We can also minimise our hindsight bias by recording in writing what we believe or feel. I write answers on Quora to share my thoughts with readers. So, I know what I thought sometimes back on a particular issue. I am often amazed to see how my views and opinions have changed over time. Many of my predictions have been proven false, and that has humbled me to a great extent. You can write your thoughts in a diary and then whenever you wish to know what you actually thought at any point in time, refer back to your diary to know the reality, rather than relying on your memory, which is susceptible to wishful thinking and delusion.
Similarly, a good way to overcome attribution bias is to develop empathy and put yourself in other people’s shoes to understand their feelings. If you listen to all sides of the story, your judgement will likely be more fair and balanced. It would help if you also took responsibility for your actions instead of blaming others for your failures. When you take responsibility, your attention is focused on finding the errors that led to failure instead of finding a scapegoat. Similarly, focusing on solving the problem can divert your attention from blaming others to collaborating with them to find the solution. We must also develop the habit of looking at the positive sides of other people, which can help us find a balanced and objective view of reality. https://cpdonline.co.uk/knowledge-base/safeguarding/types-of-bias/
While the self-serving biases are driven by emotions, and they are beneficial to some extent, we must overcome them when dealing with critical issues. The most important quality required to overcome the self-serving biases is empathy. When we feel for other people, our decisions are more balanced as they take into account the emotions of other people as well.
However, mere empathy will not be enough to overcome cognitive bias unless we have proper and adequate information and knowledge of the issue at hand since our emotions tend to fill the information gaps and provide us with solutions based on our limited information. This tendency leads to the creation of biases, known as availability bias.
References
[1] Michael J. Sandel, The Tyranny of Merit: What’s Become of the Common Good? [2] Kendra Cherry, “Actor-Observer Bias in Social Psychology” https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-the-actor-observer-bias-2794813#citation-4 [3] Ross, L., Greene, D., and House, P. (1977). The “false consensus effect”: an egocentric bias in social perception and attribution processes. J. Exp. Soc. Psychol. 13, 279–301. doi: 10.1016/0022-1031(77)90049-X [4] Leviston Z, Walker I, Morwinski S. Your opinion on climate change might not be as common as you think. Nature Climate Change. 2013;3(4):334-337. doi:10.1038/nclimate1743 [5] Kendra Cherry, “13 Types of Common Cognitive Biases That Might Be Impairing Your Judgment”, Updated on February 22, 2024 URL: https://www.verywellmind.com/cognitive-biases-distort-thinking-2794763 [6] Tia Ghose. “Everyone thinks they are above average” Published February 7, 2013 https://www.cbsnews.com/news/everyone-thinks-they-are-above-average/ [7] James Chen, “Hindsight Bias: Causes, Examples and FAQ” , Updated September 29, 2022 https://www.investopedia.com/terms/h/hindsight-bias.asp