Self-Serving biases examples

Self-Serving Bias: Examples, Definition, and Experiments

What is it?

You’re probably familiar with self-serving bias, even if you don’t know it by name.

A self-serving bias is the common habit of a person taking credit for positive events or outcomes, but blaming outside factors for negative events. This can be affected by age, culture, clinical diagnosis, and more. It tends to occur widely across populations.

Locus of control

The concept of locus of control (LOC) refers to a person’s belief system about the causes of events, and the accompanying attributions. There are two categories of LOC: internal and external.

If a person has an internal LOC, they’ll assign their success to their own hard work, effort, and persistence. If they have an external LOC, they’ll credit any success to luck or something outside of themselves.

Individuals with an internal LOC might be more likely to display a self-serving bias, especially regarding achievements.

Self-serving bias occurs in all different types of situations, across genders, ages, cultures, and more. For example:

A student gets a good grade on a test and tells herself that she studied hard or is good at the material. She gets a bad grade on another test and says the teacher doesn’t like her or the test was unfair.
Athletes win a game and attribute their win to hard work and practice. When they lose the following week, they blame the loss on bad calls by the referees.
A job applicant believes he’s been hired because of his achievements, qualifications, and excellent interview. For a previous opening he didn’t receive an offer for, he says the interviewer didn’t like him.

Someone with depression or low self-esteem might invert the self-serving bias: They attribute negative events to something they did, and positive events to luck or something someone else did.

A variety of experiments have been done to study self-serving bias. In one study in 2011, undergraduates filled out an online test, experienced an emotional induction, got test feedback, and then had to make an attribution regarding their performance. The researcher found that certain emotions influenced the self-serving bias.

Another older experiment from 2003 explored the neural basis of the self-serving bias using imaging studies, specifically an fMRI. It was found that the dorsal striatum — also found to function in motor activities that share cognitive aspects — controls the self-serving bias.

There are thought to be two motivations for using the self-serving bias: self-enhancement and self-presentation.

Self-enhancement

The concept of self-enhancement applies to the need to keep up one’s self-worth. If an individual uses the self-serving bias, attributing positive things to themselves and negative things to outside forces helps them maintain a positive self-image and self-worth.

For example, say you’re playing baseball and strike out. If you believe the umpire unfairly called strikes when you actually received bad pitches, you can maintain the idea that you’re a good hitter.

Self-presentation

Self-presentation is exactly what it sounds like — the self that one presents to other people. It’s the desire to appear a particular way to other people. In this way, the self-serving bias helps us maintain the image we present to others.

For example, if you want to appear as though you have good study habits, you might attribute a bad test score to poorly written questions rather than your inability to prepare correctly.

“I stayed up all night studying,” you might say, “but the questions weren’t based on the material we were given.” Note that self-presentation isn’t the same as lying. You may have indeed stayed up all night studying, but the thought that you could have studied inefficiently doesn’t come to mind.

Male vs. female

A 2004 meta-analysis found that while many studies have examined gender differences in the self-serving bias, this is hard to tease out.

This isn’t just because mixed results have been found with sex differences in attributions. It’s also because researchers have found in these studies that self-serving bias depends on the age of the individual and whether they’re looking at attributing successes or failures.

Old vs. young

Self-serving bias can change over time. It might be less prevalent in older adults. This may be due to experience or emotional factors.

Older adults might also have a reduced positivity bias (the tendency to judge positive traits as being more accurate).

Culture

Western culture tends to prize rugged individualism, so the individual self-serving bias comes in handy. In more collectivist cultures, successes and failures are seen as being influenced by the collective nature of the community. People in these communities recognize that individual behavior is interdependent with the larger whole.

There are several ways to test for self-serving bias:

laboratory testing
neural imaging
retrospective self-report

Testing done in a lab by researchers can give some insight into ways to reduce the self-serving bias, as well as situational instances of it. Neural imaging provides researchers with brain imagery to see what parts of the brain are involved in making decisions and attributions. Self-report helps to provide outcomes based on past behavior.

Self-serving bias my serve to bolster one’s self-esteem, but it isn’t universally advantageous. Constantly attributing negative outcomes to external factors and only taking credit for positive events can be related to narcissism, which has been linked to negative outcomes in the workplace and interpersonal relationships.

In the classroom, if students and teachers consistently attribute negative events to each other, this can lead to conflict and adverse relationships.

Self-serving bias is normal and serves a purpose. However, if an individual consistently ignores their responsibility in negative events, this can be detrimental to learning processes and relationships. So it’s definitely something to be aware of.

The self-serving bias can vary among demographic groups, as well as over time in an individual.

12 Self-serving Bias Examples – StudiousGuy

Psychologists claim that the human mind is biased to preassume, act, and view the world in a particular way that is aligned with the previously stored information (values or beliefs). Due to the tendency of the human brain to simplify the large amount of information that we receive on daily basis based on prior information, people tend to fall victim to various cognitive biases. In this article, we’ll discuss the self-serving bias. Self-serving bias refers to the people’s tendency to associate the positive events such as wins with their own actions or character, while the negative events such as losing to external factors. Self-service bias makes the people take the credit for anything good that happens and blame the others people or factors for anything bad that happens. It is said that the majority of populations exhibit a self-serving bias. Let’s discuss the various factors that influence the self-serving bias, background, real-life examples of self-serving bias, and different ways to overcome the self-serving bias.

Index of Article (Click to Jump)

Fundamental Attribution Error and Self-Serving Bias

Fundamental attribution error refers to the tendency of the person to ignore the various situational or external factors and overemphasise the dispositional factors (Ross, 1997). For example, suppose you are driving your car in your lane and a car behind you suddenly overtakes you. You are more likely to assume that the driver of that car is irrational or impatient without considering the external factors such as maybe that person was in hurry or had an emergency. Now, suppose you are the one who suddenly overtakes the other person’s car. Will you consider yourself irrational or impatient? Well, the chances are very low as you might try to explain your behaviour through several other factors. This can be understood through the actor-observer bias. According to this bias, we tend to judge other people’s behaviour based on internal factors, while we judge our own behaviour based on external factors (Jones & Nisbett, 1971). However, an Austrian psychologist, Fritz Heider claimed that whether the person makes the external or the internal attributions depends upon the outcome of the behaviour, i.e., whether the outcome is good or bad. This is termed the self-serving bias. For example, a person tends to make the external attribution (blaming the teacher) if he/she fails the exams (negative outcome), while the person tends to make the internal attribution (praising oneself) if he/she aces the exams (positive outcome).

Background of Self-serving Bias

The term self-serving bias becomes notable in the late 1960s. The theory related to the self-serving bias was first formulated on the basis of the research related to the attribution biases. Attribution bias refers to the cognitive bias due to which the people commit several systematic errors while evaluating the causes of their and others’ behaviour. Fritz Heider analyse the findings of the attribution research and found that the attributions that people make for the cause of anything are highly influenced by their own needs, i.e., they exhibit the self-serving bias to feel good about themselves and maintain high self-esteem. Self-serving bias is also influenced by several factors such as age, culture, gender, and clinically diagnosis. We’ll discuss these factors further in this article. Nowadays, researchers are using several advanced methods such as lab tests, and naturalistic experiments to explore more about the self-serving bias and how it impacts the various other fields. Moderns researches on the self-serving bias also consider the various physiological manipulations to understand the various biological factors that influence the self-serving bias.

Factors Determining the Self-serving Bias

Not every person is equally likely to exhibit a self-serving bias. Various external factors impact the self-serving bias and certain people are more likely to get affected by the self-serving bias than the others. The following are certain factors that determine the self-serving bias.

1. Motivations

There are mainly two types of motivation that impact the self-serving bias, i.e., self-enhancement and self-presentation.

i. Self-Enhancement

Self-enhancement is considered a primary factor that makes people fall victim to the self-serving bias. People tend to rely on self-serving bias to maintain their self-image and identity. For example, you applied for a job and you got selected for the interview process. You gave the interview and the next day you got the mail that you are not selected for the interview. The self-serving bias can make you think that you gave the interview well but the hiring manager was rude and biased. In this manner, you maintain the self-image that you were a well-deserved candidate for that position but the external factors (the rude hiring manager) lead to your rejection.

ii. Self Presentation

As suggested by the name itself, self-presentation refers to the way that the person presents himself/herself in front of others. People desire to look smart in front of others due to which they rely on a self-serving bias. People take the responsibility for their success but they use various excuses to justify their failure. In this manner, they tend to present themselves better in front of other people.

2. Self-esteem

Fritz Heider claimed that in the case of ambiguous events (events where the cause of the outcome is not clearly defined), people’s attributions are largely based on their need to maintain high self-esteem. Many other psychologists also claim that the need for high self-esteem is what drives people to show a self-serving bias. People tend to take the responsibility for the positive outcomes to increase their self-esteem, and they put blame on the external factors in case of the negative outcomes to maintain their self-esteem. High self-esteem allows people to feel confident about themselves and also in maintaining positive relations with others. Also, a person with high self-esteem takes the feedback positively and is open to learning new things. Hence, to maintain their self-esteem people tend to rely on self-serving biases. The association between self-esteem and self-serving bias is a prominent theory, but as claimed by some psychologists there are several other factors that explain the commonality of the self-serving bias. The psychologist Dale Miller and Michael Ross suggested that the self-serving bias depends upon how closely the expectations of the person aligns with the reality. This means that if the outcome of any event is aligned with the expectations of the person, the person will attribute the depositional factors to the outcome. However, if the outcome is unexpected then they will make the external attribution and blame their surroundings. Self-serving bias can also be explained through natural optimism (“Self-serving bias – biases & heuristics,” 2021), i.e., people are naturally optimistic, and they do not expect the negative outcomes, hence when negative outcomes occur they tend to attribute it to the external factors. Although the root cause of the self-serving bias is still debatable, Miller and Ross’s theory helps in understanding the cause of the self-serving bias to a great extent.

3. Locus of Control

The locus of control impacts the attribution style of a person. It refers to the belief system of a person about the causes of the events, and associated attractions. There exist two categories of Locus of Control, i.e., internal locus of control, and external locus of control.

i. Internal Locus of Control

People who possess the internal locus of control associate their success and achievements (positive outcomes) with their own efforts, work or consistency.

ii. External Locus of Control

People who possess the external locus of control associate their success and achievements (positive outcomes) with various external factors such as luck.

Out of these two categories, the people who possess the internal locus of control are highly likely to exhibit the self-serving bias.

4. Self-Awareness

The tendency to exhibit the self-serving bias also depends upon the level of awareness of the person. If the person is aware of his/her strengths or weaknesses he or tends to accurately attribute the success or the failure. A person with a low level of self-awareness tends to attribute success internally while failure externally.

5. Gender

Several studies reveal that there exists a huge difference in the tendency to exhibit the self-serving bias between males and females. A survey was conducted on the couples, and it was found that the males are more likely to attribute the negative interactions in the relationship to their partner than the females. This shows that males tend to show the self-serving bias more than the females. Although this study did not describe the attribution styles in the case of positive interaction.

6. Age

Some studies reveal that older adults are less likely to exhibit a self-serving bias. Older adults tend to make internal attributions in case of any negative outcomes. It was also found that the older adults who made the internal attribution for the negative outcomes rated their health as poor, so these negative emotional factors could be the reason there makes the internal attributions.

7. Depression

A study was conducted to analyse the self-serving bias exhibited by the people suffering from depression. It was found that the people who were suffering from depression were less likely to exhibit a self-serving bias than the normal people. People suffering from depression tend to attribute the bad outcomes to their own characteristics and actions while the positive outcomes to the external factors say luck. This is also supported by a meta-analysis conducted in 2004 based on the analyses of 266 studies which surveyed people of different regions, ages and suffering from various psychological disorders. Researchers explain this phenomenon by claiming that people suffering from depression have low levels of self-esteem, which is why they tend to attribute the negative outcomes to their own actions.

8. Cultural Differences

A study revealed that the Asian samples (subjects belonging to Asia) are less likely to display the self-serving than the Western Samples (subjects belonging to Western countries). This highlights the impact of cross-culture differences on the self-serving bias, and it reveals that the self-serving is prominent in the countries where the individualistic approach is more prevalent than in the countries that follow the collectivist culture. This is because, in the countries that support the individualistic approach, their primary focus is on the growth of the individuals, which makes the people more concerned about their self-esteem while in the countries that follow the collectivistic approach, the decisions are largely based on the favour of the groups or the families. The findings of the study titled “Explicit and Direct Self-Serving Bias in Japan Reexamination of Self-Serving Bias for Success and Failure” conducted by Kudo and Numuzaki revealed that the participants that had the more chances of success gave the more internal attributions than the participants who were in the condition of failure. This research contradicts some previous studies that revealed that Japanese people are less likely to exhibit a self-serving bias. Another study titled “The foreign language effect on the self-serving bias: A field experiment in the high school classroom” conducted by Hugten and Witteloostuijin revealed that the subjects of age 13 to 15 years were less likely to show the self-serving bias if they process the feedback of their performance in the Dutch language (native) then the students who process the feedback of their performance in the English language (non-native). Although as suggested by various studies there are several differences in the attribution ways of the individualistic and the collectivist culture some of the literature also shows the similarities between these two cultures, for example, the similarities between the West Bengal, Germany, South Korea and England.

9. Emotions

A study was conducted on undergraduate students in 2011, they were asked to fill out an online test. They experienced the emotional induction, then provided with the feedback and they were asked to make attribution of their test performance. The findings of the study showed that some specific emotions impacted the self-serving bias. Another study conducted in 2003 highlighted the neural basis that impacts the self-serving bias with the help of the brain imaging tools such as MRI. This study revealed dorsal striatum, a part of the brain which is responsible for the various cognitive processes that control the motor activities, influences the self-serving bias.

Self-serving Bias Examples

Self-serving bias research is common in the workplace, interpersonal relationships, sports and athletic performance, consumer decisions, computer technology and many other domains. Let us discuss the example of self-serving bias observed in daily life.

1. Good or Bad Grade in Exams

Imagine that you are sitting in a classroom, and the teacher is distributing the graded test to all the students. Your turn comes and you see a big C on your test sheet. You get shocked to see the C grade as you expected better grades because according to you, you performed well in your exams. You immediately start thinking about the possible causes of this outcome. You may think that the questions were very difficult, the teacher was not good at teaching, the teacher deliberately gave you the lower grades and many other excuses that put the blame on the outwards factors of this situation and not on yourself. Now imagine, that you scored a grade of A on your tests. This time, you are likely to attribute this outcome to your own actions. You’ll praise yourself that you did the hard work and that you are good at understanding the educational concepts. This situation shows the influence of the self-serving bias.

2. Schools and Management

Many studies show that the teachers and the students are highly likely to fall victim to the self-serving bias. It is often seen in the school meetings that both teachers and students refuse to take the blame for the negative outcomes. For example, most teachers tend to blame the students for their bad grades even if they themselves did not teach them properly, and most students tend to blame the teachers for their bad grades even if they themselves did not study the whole year. Similar behaviour is observed if the student scores well, i.e., the student praise himself/herself for his/her good marks while the teachers or the school authorities claim that they provide the best teaching facilities, which is why their students score the good marks. Self-serving bias can make both teachers and students praise themselves for the positive outcomes. This kind of thinking or we can say self-serving bias can bring the conflict between the teachers and students.

3. Sports

Self-serving bias can be commonly observed in sports. You must have seen that some people when loose in the games use several excuses such as putting the blame on the referee, arguing that the coach did not train them the best, or blaming many other external factors for their failure. On the contrary, when they win the game, they praise themselves and attribute their success to their actions. This shows that these people exhibit a self-serving bias. In sports, the performance of the player is clearly associated with a particular outcome, which makes it easy for him/her to fall for the self-serving bias. Specifically, in case of the individual sports, the self-serving bias is more common because the individual winner is clearly defined in these sports. In a study conducted in 1987 by a psychology professor Stephen Zaccaro and his colleagues, 549 statements (regarding their performance) were collected from the athletes who played both the individual sports (tennis, badminton, golf etc.,) and the team sports (cricket, football, baseball etc.,). The findings of the study revealed that the ones who played the individual sports were more likely to exhibit the self-serving bias than the ones who played the team sports. According to researchers, this happens because, in case of the individual sports, the performance of the player directly impacts his/her self esteem due to which they tend to rely on the self-serving bias to boost their confidence. Another study conducted on the wrestlers also supports the generality of the self-serving bias among athletes (De Michele et al., 1998). In this study, the wrestlers were asked to self-analyse their performance in the practice matches and they had to provide the results of these matches. The findings of this study showed that the wrestlers who won the matches were highly likely to attribute their wins to internal factors than the wrestlers who lost. A meta-analysis conducted in 2020 (including the analysis of 69 studies) revealed that sportspersons are highly likely to attribute their success to internal factors and their failure to external factors.

4. Workplace

Like sports, the self-serving bias is commonly seen in the workplace too. Whether it’s a hiring process or the firing process everything in between, one tends to fall victim to the self-serving bias. People when hired for a particular position tend to attribute their hiring to the dispositional factors such as strong credentials, communication skills or extraordinary resumes, but they attribute the rejection in the interviews to the external factors such as the hiring manager was not good, the organization was not fair and so on. Self-serving bias in the workplace can negatively impact the work culture and eventually hinder the growth of the organization. Self-serving bias can make the employees attribute their shortcomings to external factors (work environment), and the management can attribute any accidents to the actions of the employees. Self-serving bias can negatively impact the productivity of the employees as it blocks the ability of the person to fairly evaluate any situation and they tend to avoid taking the responsibility for their shortcomings. Situations like these tarnish professional relationships. Researchers Joseph Walther and Natalya Bazarova conducted a study in 2007 when the professional relationship between the employees and their colleague is distant, the employees tends to find it easier to blame their colleagues for the various workplace issues, i.e., they tend to exhibit the self-serving bias. The self-serving bias can also occur in case of any success at the workplace. For example, some managers attribute their success say any promotion or good presentation, or project accomplishment only to their efforts and do not acknowledge the team members that also may had contribute to that success. The occurrence of self-serving bias can also be observed in the case of the termination of an employee. Due to the self-serving bias, people blame the management or the organization for their termination rather than acknowledging that their shortcomings could also be the reason for their termination.

5. Road Accidents Blame

In a study, it was found that 75 per cent of the subjects believed that it was not their fault that caused the accidents, while they blamed the other drivers for the accident. This shows that most people refuse to admit their mistakes that result in accidents, and tend to blame the external factors only. This is an example of the self-serving bias as people call other drivers negligible and careless because they care about their self-image. The findings of a survey conducted on the 531 drivers revealed that the higher the self-serving bias, the lower the perceived risk of buying a self-driving car by a person because the person believes that they would never be faulty in the accidents. The self-serving bias of the people involved in road accidents makes it difficult for the law authorities to decide the person who is more responsible for the accident.

6. Blaming Technology

In today’s digital world, computer technology has become a crucial part of our life. Some researchers claim that people subconsciously tend to treat technological problems as they deal the various social situations. For example, when consumers buy the products online, they tend to praise themselves for the good purchase but if the product does not come out to be of the good quality they tend to blame the external factors such as computer technology or online platforms. This is an example of the self-serving bias because people attributed the good purchase to their own actions while the bad purchase with that of the technological problems. Studies reveal that self-serving bias related to computer technology is very common, and people often blame the computer software for any problem even if the users themselves are the ones who are responsible for the occurrence of that problems.

7. Wishful Thinking

According to Kaplan et al. wishful thinking is a type of self-serving bias. Wishful thinking refers to the formulating of certain beliefs which seem pleasant to the person and are not based on evidence or reality. Wishful thinking or self-serving bias can be considered the easiest way to resolve the conflicts between a person’s beliefs and his/her desires. For example, the mother tends to blame the various outward factors that lead her son to commit the crime rather than believing that her son is a criminal.

8. Relationships

In relationships, both partners should play an equal role to make the relationship work. But the question here is that does the partners acknowledge the efforts of their significant other or not. It is often seen that in some relationships people do not recognize the efforts of their partners, and these relationships usually do not last long. A study was conducted on the couples, in this study, the partners were asked the question that who do they think contributes more to their relationships. The findings of this study revealed that most of the partners feel that they contribute more to their relationship than their partners, and they tend to blame their significant others in case of any issues in the relationship. This thinking is influenced by the self-serving bias, and it leads to conflicts in the relationships.

9. Accidents at Construction Sites

During the construction of any buildings or other infrastructures projects, the workers should be instructed to follow the proper guidelines for working for their own safety and the project managers should make sure that proper facilities should be provided to the workers so that they don’t have to risk their lives during the work. Still, we often get to hear that a worker got injured or died due to an accident at the construction site. In these cases, the worker who gets injured is more likely to blame the external factors for the incident, while the project managers are more likely to say that the incident happened due to the worker’s own fault.

10. Achievements

Have you ever felt that your colleague was not worthy of the recent promotion that he got? You might have felt that you worked harder than your colleague and you were the one who deserved that promotion. Well, this may be true, but the chances that this thinking of yours is a result of a self-serving bias is also a possibility. Due to the influence of the self-serving bias when we get a promotion or recognition for some achievement, we tend to feel that we received it because we deserved it, but if our rival gets the promotion or recognition we tend to believe that it happened because of the external factors, i.e., management is taking his/her favour. We are not neglecting the presence of internal politics in some organizations, but the point here is that self-serving bias makes people think in a manner that makes them feel good when the outcomes do not seem in their favour.

11. Learning

Self-serving bias also comes into play when a person tries to learn any new skill. Learning something new takes both time and effort which increases the probability of the person falling victim to the self-serving bias. For example, suppose you have decided to learn guitar in your late adulthood. If you find it easier to play that in the first few sessions of learning, you are more likely to praise yourself. On contrary, if you find it difficult to hold grasp in playing that you are more likely to blame the external factor such as age, bad instrument, or wrong teaching techniques of your instructor. This happens due to a self-serving bias. People tend to blame the external factors when they find it difficult to learn any new skill.

12. Self-serving bias in Groups

Some research also highlights that the self-serving bias can also occur on the national level. This means that self-serving bias is not just limited to the person attributing the success to personal factors and failure to the external factors, but it also involves a group attributing any achievement or success to the efforts of its own country while attributing the negative outcomes to the other countries failure. For example, most of the counteries deny taking the responsibility that the industries or factories located in their counteries are responsible for the climatic change. A study was conducted by the University of Zurich and Carnegie Mellon University in 2011 to investigate the perception of the citizens. The participants were asked to name the country that should reduce the emission of greenhouse gas. The surveys were conducted on the students of China and American colleges, and the findings of the study revealed that all the students showed a nationalistic self-serving bias, i.e., they pointed out that other countries should put a curb on the emission of the greenhouse gases as the citizens were aware of the economic burden that their country could face if they reduce the emission of greenhouse gases.

Ways to Overcome Self-serving Bias

1. Be Aware

Being aware of what you are thinking could be the best method to overcome the self-serving bias. As claimed by many psychologists, most decisions of the people and their behaviour are the results of their unconscious. Hence being aware of the various unconscious desires and thoughts by bringing them to the conscious can help people to tackle their cognitive biases.

2. Think Objectively

One should slow down his/her thinking while evaluating anything rather than quickly judging everything, and making the sudden judgements. We often tend to view every situation from our own perspective, but we should consider all the possible factors before making the final judgement.

3. Accept Your Imperfections

As we have discussed in the article above self-serving bias is related to the self-esteem of the person. People fall victim to the self-serving bias to elevate their self-esteem or self-worth. Self-serving bias makes it difficult to people to admit their mistakes and learn something from them, i.e., they refuse to accept the negative feedback. This can retard the personal growth of the person, hence it is important for the person to challenge his/her biases, and learn to accept the criticisms in a constructive manner. To do this one should practise self-compassion. It means people should treat themselves with kindness even if they think they are imperfect or not able to reach up to their expectations. Self-compassion can help to overcome the self-serving bias to a large extent as self-compassion prevents people from relying on the self-serving bias to maintain their self-esteem. One can practice self-compassion through various therapies, mindfulness, or other techniques. To sum up, people should understand that it is okay if they are not able to achieve something or do something, one should learn from their mistakes rather than relating their mistakes to their self-esteem. In this manner, it can become easier for people to avoid the self-serving bias.

4. Be Thankful

Some people often do not acknowledge the people who played a crucial part in their success. Due to the self-serving bias, people tend to credit themselves for all their accomplishments. One can overcome this self-serving bias by acknowledging the efforts of others. If you are the team leader and your team has successfully accomplished the assigned targets then rather than praising yourself for being the best leader you should praise your team members too for their hard work and efforts. Before considering that you are the only one who is responsible for the success, think for a while that do you really be able to achieve that success in the absence of the others. In this manner, you can avoid falling the victim to the self-serving bias.

5. Consider Feedback

Taking the feedback positively and using that for evaluating your decision is one of the best strategies to overcome the self-serving bias. Feedback can help the person in being aware of their strengths and shortcomings. If the people have the accurate knowledge of their strengths and the weaknesses he/she is less likely to fall victim to the self-serving bias. To avoid the self-serving bias in the workplace, a good work environment where the employees and the managers feel comfortable sharing feedback or constructive criticism, is required. Not only the employees should consider the feedback but also the management should also consider the feedback of the employees; for example, the employee’s feedback about the improvement in the various policies can help the management in making a better work environment. This kind of professional relationship prevents the employees or the management from relying on the self-serving biases as they take the criticism constructively.

Bangalore Principles of Judicial Conduct - Conventions and Agreements - Declarations, Conventions, Agreements and Other Legal Materials

The Hague, 26 November 2002

BEARING IN MIND the Universal Declaration of Human Rights ¹, which recognizes as a fundamental principle the equal treatment to the extent to which each person has the right to consider his case, related to the establishment of his rights and obligations, as well as the question of his guilt in committing a criminal offense, by an independent court, on the basis of fairness and impartiality, in an open court session,

TAKING INTO ACCOUNT the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights ² , which guarantees the equality of all citizens before the courts, as well as the right of every person to a timely consideration of his case, related to the establishment of his rights and obligations, as well as the question of his guilt in commission of a criminal offense by a competent and independent court, on the basis of fairness and impartiality, in open court, in accordance with the established judicial procedure,

WHEREAS the above fundamental principles and rights are also recognized or reflected in local human rights instruments, national constitutions, statutory and common law, judicial usages and traditions,

WHEREAS the competence, independence and the impartiality of the judiciary is of great importance in the protection of human rights, since the exercise of all other rights depends entirely on the proper administration of justice,

WHEREAS the competence, independence and impartiality of the judiciary is essential to the exercise by the courts of their role of upholding constitutionalism and law and order,

WHEREAS the need for judges, individually and collectively, to treat their office as respected and honorable, understanding the degree of trust placed in them by society, and apply every effort to maintain and further develop confidence in the judiciary,

WHEREAS the promotion and maintenance of high standards of judicial conduct is the direct responsibility of the judiciary of every State,

AND WHEREAS Basic Principles on the Independence of the Judiciary ³ are designed to ensure and maintain judicial independence and are addressed States in particular,

THE FOLLOWING PRINCIPLES are intended to establish standards for the ethical conduct of judges. They are addressed to judges for use as a guide, and to the judiciary to be used as basic principles for regulating the conduct of judges. In addition, they are designed to promote a better understanding and support for the process of administration of justice by representatives of the executive and legislative branches, lawyers and society as a whole. These principles presuppose that in their conduct judges are accountable to the appropriate bodies established to uphold judicial standards, acting objectively and independently and with the aim of enhancing rather than detracting from the existing legal norms and rules of conduct to which judges are bound.

First indicator

Independence

Principle

Independence of the judiciary is a prerequisite for ensuring the rule of law and the main guarantee of a fair resolution of the case in court. Therefore, the judge must uphold and implement the principle of the independence of the judiciary in its individual and institutional aspects.

Application

1.1. The judge must exercise his judicial function independently, based solely on the assessment of the facts, in accordance with the conscious understanding of the law, regardless of any extraneous influence, inducement, pressure, threats or interference, direct or indirect, carried out from any side and pursuing any goals.

1.2. The judge maintains an independent position in relation to society as a whole and in relation to the specific parties to the case in which the judge must decide.

1.3. The judge not only excludes any relationship that does not correspond to the office or influence from the executive and legislative branches of power, but also does it in such a way that it is obvious even to an outside observer.

1.4. In cases where the decision on the case must be made by the judge himself, he acts independently of the opinion of other colleagues in the composition of the court.

1.5. The judge advocates and maintains guarantees for the performance of judges' duties in order to preserve and enhance the institutional and operational independence of judges.

1.6. The judge displays and encourages high standards of judicial conduct in order to build public confidence in the judiciary, which is of paramount importance for maintaining the independence of the judiciary.

Second indicator

Objectivity

Principle

The judge's objectivity is a prerequisite for the proper performance of his duties. It is manifested not only in the content of the decision, but also in all procedural actions accompanying its adoption.

Application

2.1. In the performance of his duties, a judge is free from any preference, prejudice or prejudice.

2.2. The behavior of a judge during a court session and outside the court should contribute to the maintenance and growth of the trust of society, representatives of the legal profession and the parties to the trial in the objectivity of the judge and the judiciary.

2.3. The judge, if possible, restricts himself in committing actions that could serve as a basis for depriving him of the right to participate in court sessions and make decisions on court cases.

2.4. Before considering a case (which is known to take place, or is only supposed to take place), the judge refrains from any comments that, based on a reasonable assessment of the situation, could in any way affect the outcome of this case or call into question the fair conduct of the process. . The judge refrains from public or other comments, as otherwise it may interfere with an unbiased consideration of the case in relation to any person or issue.

2.5. The judge declares self-withdrawal from participation in the consideration of the case if it is not possible for him to make an objective decision on the case, or if an outside observer could have doubts about the impartiality of the judge. The following are just a few examples of such cases:

a ) the judge has developed a real prejudice or prejudice against any of the parties, or the judge has learned from his personal sources of any evidentiary facts relevant to the case under consideration;

b ) earlier, when considering the same subject of dispute, the judge acted as a lawyer or was involved as an important witness; or

with ) the judge or members of his family are materially interested in the outcome of the case under consideration;
provided that a judge may not be excluded from a case where no other court can be appointed to hear the case, or because of the urgency of the case, where delay in deciding it could lead to a serious miscarriage of justice.

Third indicator

Integrity

Principle

Integrity and integrity are necessary conditions for the proper performance of a judge's duties.

Application

3.1. The referee demonstrates behavior that is impeccable even from the point of view of an outside observer.

3.2. The conduct and behavior of a judge must maintain public confidence in the integrity of the judiciary. It is not enough to simply administer justice, it must be done openly to society.

Fourth indicator

Compliance with ethical standards

Principle

Compliance with ethical standards, demonstrating compliance with ethical standards are an integral part of the activities of judges.

Application

4.1. The judge observes ethical norms, not allowing manifestations of incorrect behavior in the implementation of any actions related to his position.

4.2. Constant public scrutiny imposes on the judge the obligation to accept a number of restrictions; and, although these restrictions might seem burdensome to the average citizen, the judge accepts them voluntarily and willingly. In particular, the behavior of a judge must correspond to the high status of his position.

4.3. In his personal relationships with lawyers who have a permanent practice in the court where the judge hears cases, the judge avoids situations that could arouse reasonable suspicion or give the appearance that the judge has any preferences or prejudice.

4.4. The judge does not participate in the consideration of the case if any of the members of his family acts as a representative of any of the parties or is otherwise related to the case.

4.5. The judge does not provide his place of residence to other lawyers for receiving clients or meetings with colleagues.

4.6. A judge, like any citizen, is guaranteed freedom of expression, religion, participation in meetings and associations, however, in the process of exercising these rights, a judge always takes care to maintain the high status of the position of a judge and does not allow actions that are incompatible with the impartiality and independence of the judiciary.

4.7. A judge must be aware of his personal and material interests of a confidential nature and take reasonable steps to obtain information about the material interests of his family members.

4.8. A judge should not allow his family members, social and other relationships to improperly influence his actions related to the exercise of the functions of a judge, as well as his decision-making.

4.9. A judge has no right to use or allow the authority of his own position to be used to achieve the personal interests of a judge, members of the judge's family or any other persons. A judge must not act or allow other persons to act in such a way that it can be concluded that someone is improperly influencing the judge's exercise of his powers.

4.10. Confidential information that has become known to a judge by virtue of his official position cannot be used by him or disclosed to anyone for any other purposes not related to the performance of the duties of a judge.

4.11. Subject to the proper performance of his duties, the judge has the right:

a ) engage in literary, pedagogical activities, give lectures, take part in activities related to law, legislation, administration of justice and other similar issues;

b ) at public hearings to speak before an official body on matters related to law, legislation, administration of justice and other similar issues;

c ) be a member of an official body, government committee, commission, advisory body, if such membership allows the judge to remain impartial and maintain a politically neutral position; or

d ) engage in other activities, if this is compatible with the high status of the position of a judge and does not interfere in any way with the performance of his duties as a judge.

4.12. A judge is not entitled to practice law while in office as a judge.

4.13. A judge has the right to establish or join associations of judges, join other organizations representing the interests of judges.

4.14. A judge and members of his family may not demand or accept any gifts, loans, bequests or assistance in any other form, if it is caused by actions that the judge has committed, intends to commit, or inaction in connection with the performance of his official duties.

4.15. The judge has no right to allow court employees, as well as other persons under the influence of the judge, in his subordination or working under his direction, to demand or accept any gifts, loans, bequests, assistance in any other form, if the judge knows for sure that this is caused by his functions or actions that he has committed, intends to commit or inaction in connection with the performance of his official duties.

4.16. In the absence of prohibitions contained in the law or other legal restrictions related to public exposure, a judge has the right to accept memorable gifts, awards and privileges appropriate to the occasion, if they were made without the intention of in any way affecting the performance of his official duties and had no other selfish intentions.

Fifth indicator

Equality

Principle

Ensuring equal treatment for all parties to a court session is of paramount importance for the proper performance of a judge's duties.

Application

5.1. The judge must be aware of and understand the heterogeneity of society and differences arising from multiple sources, including, but not limited to, race, color, gender, religion, national origin, caste, disability, age, marital status, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status and other similar reasons (“irrelevant grounds”).

5.2. In the performance of his judicial duties, a judge must not, in words or conduct, show partiality or prejudice against any person or group of persons for irrelevant reasons.

5.3. A judge shall exercise judicial functions with due regard to the interests of all persons, in particular litigants, witnesses, lawyers, members of the court and fellow members of the court, without making distinctions on grounds that are irrelevant to the case and are not essential for the proper exercise of such functions.

5.4. The judge must not knowingly allow court staff or other persons under the influence of the judge, in his subordination or under his supervision, to allow a differentiated approach in relation to these persons in a case before the court, on any grounds that are not relevant to the case.

5.5. The judge shall require attorneys in proceedings to refrain from verbal or behavioral bias or prejudice on irrelevant grounds, except in cases that are of legal importance to the subject matter of the proceedings and can be legally justified.

Sixth indicator

Competence and diligence

Principle

Competence and diligence are necessary conditions for the performance of a judge's duties.

Application

6.1. The judicial functions of a judge take precedence over all other activities.

6.2. A judge dedicates his professional activity to the performance of judicial functions, which include not only the performance of judicial and official duties in court proceedings and the issuance of decisions, but also other tasks related to the judicial office or the activities of the court.

6.3. The judge takes reasonable measures to preserve and expand his knowledge, improve his practical experience and personal qualities necessary for the proper performance of his duties, using for these purposes the means of training and other opportunities that, under conditions of judicial control, should be available to judges.

6.4. The judge should be aware of relevant developments in international law, including international conventions and other documents that establish rules applicable to human rights.

6.5. The judge shall perform all his duties, including the issuance of adjourned judgments, reasonably, fairly and with sufficient speed.

6.6. The Judge maintains order and etiquette in all proceedings and conducts himself with patience, dignity and courtesy towards the litigants, jurors, witnesses, lawyers and other persons with whom the Judge communicates in his official capacity. The judge must demand the same behavior from the legal representatives of the parties, employees of the court and other persons under the influence of the judge, in his subordination or under his supervision.

6.7. A judge should not engage in activities incompatible with the diligent performance of judicial functions.

Implementation

Based on the characteristics of the judicial office, national judiciaries should take effective steps to establish mechanisms to give effect to these principles if such mechanisms do not already exist within their jurisdiction.

Definitions

The words used in this statement of principles shall have the following meanings (unless otherwise permitted or required by the spirit):
“Court staff” means personnel directly subordinate to a judge, including court clerks;

"judge" any person with judicial powers and defined in any way;
“members of the judge’s family” means the spouse, son, daughter, stepson, stepdaughter and any other close relative or person who resides in the judge’s home and is a partner or employed by the judge;

“judge's spouse” means the family partner of a judge or any other person of either sex who has a close personal relationship with a judge.

¹ General Assembly Resolution 2200 A (XXI), annex.

² General Assembly Resolution 217 A (III).

³ See Seventh United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders, Milan, 26 August-6 September 1985: report prepared by the Secretariat (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.86. IV.1), chapter I, section D.2, appendix.

Source: E/2006/99 (SUPP), pp. 82–88.

English translation, synonyms, antonyms, example sentences, meaning, word combinations

You keep inventing complex and false excuses for my mean and selfish deeds.

You keep inventing complicated and false excuses for my despicable and selfish actions.

Through the Internet they are in their self-serving political interests exaggerate every sensitive issue in order to undermine the reputation of the government.

Through the internet, they are exploiting every sensitive issue to smear the image of the government in pursuit of their own political agenda.

If we are not careful, she will betray us for her own selfish purposes.

If we're not careful, she'll sell us out for her own gain.

Of course, society is interested in preventing “selfish motives” (Article 364) or “deliberate ... actions ... that clearly exceed the rights and powers vested in” the leader.

Certainly, there is a public interest in preventing “mercenary motives” (article 364) or “willful...acts...which patently exceed the rights and powers vested” in a leader.

Second, when each of the 99 receives his stone, that is, a special talent or power, he does not use it properly, uses it in selfish interests.

Number two, all of The 99, when they first get their stone, or their power, abuse it; they use it for self-interest.

Did it destroy the power of vested interests and create a genuine meritocracy, or did it strengthen the bankers and financiers as a new elite, with catastrophic consequences?

Did she destroy the power of vested interests and create a genuine meritocracy, or did she entrench bankers and financiers as the new elite, with disastrous consequences?

And, despite the probable chaotic, uneven and uncertain nature of the solution of this problem, the possibility of ambiguous steps and half-hearted measures, despite the possibility of making decisions under the influence of selfish interests and the potential reversibility of the entire process, weapons can be significantly reduced.

It would likely be chaotic, halting, ambiguous, self-interested and potentially reversible, but arms can be significantly reduced.

The data entered on such a site becomes known to third parties and can be used for selfish purposes by attackers.

Any data entered on such site becomes known to a third party and may be used for selfish ends of criminals.

What happened is the result of your shameful, selfish actions 20 years ago.

What's happening is a result of your deplorable, greedy actions 20 years ago.

They risked unleashing hell on earth for their own selfish gains.

The golden-headed cane is a mockery if you see it as an expression of gratitude, but fortunately I stand above selfish considerations .

The gold - headed cane is farcical considered as an acknowledgment to me; but happily I am above mercenary considerations.

I saw more than I wanted selfish dishonest people.

I've seen more than my share of selfish dishonest people.

For selfish purposes, he spared her innocence.

She had no wealth, no lands, no troops - only a name and a handful of supporters, many of whom clearly intended to use it for their selfish purposes.

She had no wealth, no lands, no army, only a name and a handful of supporters, most of whom probably thought they could use that name to benefit themselves.

I caught these self-serving charlatans by the balls, as no one else could.

I've got these mercenary quacks by the cojones like nobody's business.

It was a grandiose advertisement invented for selfish purposes by a clever journalist.

It was a gigantic advertisement that the clever journalist had devised to his own advantage.

But instead of selfish goals try to open your heart.

But instead of going in with an ulterior motive, try it with an open heart.

This difficult question occupied his mind for a long time; in the end he came to the conclusion that she recognized him and disowned him out of selfish motives.

It was a perplexing puzzle, and occupied him a long time; but he ended, finally, with the conviction that she did know him, and had repudiated him for interested reasons.

Of course, you understand that those whose disappointments are so well known cannot have selfish reasons!

You may fancy there can be no MERCENARY motives in those whose DISAPPOINTMENTS are well known.

Well, well, I know that you are not doing this out of selfish motives.

Now, now, I know you're not doing this for any mercenary reason.

With such a gathering of people, not one of the most mercenary and his vicious oppressors would dare to offend him.

It was not in places of general resort, or where their equals were assembled, that any avaricious or malevolent noble durst offer him injury.

In England, Colonel, the historical mission of the working class consists almost entirely of selfish interests.

In England, Colonel, the historic mission of the Proletariat consists almost entirely of momentary interest.

She didn't come here out of selfish reasons.

There was no selfishness in the motive. The prospect of the rich inheritance had nothing to do with it.

I'm so sick of selfish narcissists.

I am so sick of self - serving narcissists.

John Wilkes wanted to give them to me, but Gerald O'Hara would never allow anyone to say that he could use friendship for his own ends in a business deal.

John Wilkes was for almost giving them away, but never will I have it said that Gerald O'Hara used friendship in a trade.

Mr. President, I'm interested in Eli not from selfish considerations.

Mr President, I'm not interested in using Ellie to further my career.

It is impossible for selfish purposes to blame the system for the actions of an abnormal person.

The system cannot be blamed for the acts of a deranged individual with an ax to grind.

0246 purposes.

The only thing lower than a man who cheats at cards is a man who will use a woman to do this cheating for him.

They are full of drama, broken hopes and selfish ideas.

They're packed with drama... with twisted hopes and crooked dreams.

Mr. Munson is a committed public servant, 17 years in the service without a warrant, who himself was a victim of career criminals out of selfish motives.

Munson is a dedicated civil servant, 17 years CO, no record, who himself is being victimized by career criminals with an Ax to grind.

I have rarely met in my life such sincere, kind and demonic; selfish people.

She is one of the very few kind, sincere and unselfish persons I have ever known.

He didn't even think that Jones could love Sophia; what about selfish considerations, then, in his opinion, they could not play a big role with such a fool.

He had no apprehension that Jones was in love with Sophia; and as for any lucrative motives, he imagined they would sway very little with so silly a fellow.

Yeah, for selfish purposes .

Yeah, and an ax to grind.

So if you're gonna come from selfish motives...

So, if you're coming in because you got an ax to grind James's finances, but it caused opposition from the selfish circles.

An eight - man commission known as the Octavians brought some control over the ruinous state of James's finances in 1596, but it drew opposition from vested interests.

We are accused of wanting to get rid of the Japanese out of selfish motives.

We're charged with wanting to get rid of the Japs for selfish reasons.

Wilkinson refused to participate in the conspiracy, apparently out of selfish motives; he reported Burr's expedition to Jefferson, who immediately ordered Burr's arrest.

Wilkinson renounced the plot, apparently from self-interested motives; he reported Burr's expedition to Jefferson, who immediately ordered Burr's arrest.

Jelly accuses Meadow of using her pain for selfish purposes.

Jelly accuses Meadow of using her pain for her own selfish purposes.

This met with overwhelming resistance from selfish interests.

This met with overwhelming resistance from vested interests.

Under Xi Jinping, the CCDI has become much less likely to encounter interference from local barons and vested interests in the performance of its duties.

Under Xi, the CCDI became much less likely to face interference from local barons and vested interests in performing its duties.

Lots of hype from selfish parties about a news story.

A lot of hype by self - interested parties about one news story.

If this wish were used for selfish purposes, both kings would erase all existence.

If the wish was used for selfish purposes then both kings would have erased all of existence.

The theory of selfish bias first came to attention in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

The theory of self - serving biases first came to attention in the late 1960s to early 1970s.

He is mercenary and ambitious, but good, very good.

He's mercenary and ambitious, but he's good, very good.

I thought you were a little over mercenary , hmm?

I thought you were much more of a mercenary than this, hmm?

But the Complete Condemnation of the Idea, the Possibility, in the Name of Preserving Research Funding Simply Speaks of Selfishness And Cowardice, And These Are Not The Ideals We Would Like To Pass On To Students.

But to denounce this idea, this possibility so completely so that you can protect research funding, simply screams of self - serving cowardice, and these are not the ideals we would want to pass to our students.

We are driven by our perception of self-interest , which is shaped and determined by our deeper assumptions and beliefs—that is, our ideology or religion.

We are driven by our perception of self - interest as shaped and defined by our deeper presuppositions and beliefs - which is to say, our ideology or religion.

Poles know what Cossacks are; for faith, as much as they could, they took revenge; there is not much self-interest from a hungry city. So my advice is to go.

The Lyakhs now know what Cossacks are. We have avenged our faith to the extent of our ability; there is not much to satisfy greed in the familiar city, and so my advice is to go.

I'm not going to advertise in the papers that AM is back from Botany Bay; and years, thank God, a lot has passed, and self-interest in this no one.

Nor yet I don't intend to advertise myself in the newspapers by the name of A.M. come back from Botany Bay; and years have rolled away, and who's to gain by it?

Don't let my self-interest keep you from doing the right thing.

Don't allow my greed to keep you from doing the right thing.

I have seen you kill each other for self-interest and the color of your skin, fight over dust, rubbish and words in old books.

I've watched you kill each other over race and greed waging war over dust and rubble and the words in old books.

Self-interest and traps on which the bank is based and arranged, he should not even suspect.

Of the existence of the lures and gains upon which the bank is founded and maintained he must profess to have not an inkling.

The newspaperman ran on, selling newspapers on the go for a shilling - a grotesque combination self-interest and panic.

The man was running away with the rest, and selling his papers for a shilling each as he ran - a grotesque mingling of profit and panic.

In her love for life and for people there was not even a shadow of self-interest .

Her love of life and of personality were free from the taint of selfishness .

She understood what a misfortune befell a child deprived of that only love, in which there was no shadow self-interest .

She felt vaguely the pity of that child deprived of the only love in the world that is quite unselfish.

He is so transparent in his self-interest that I even respect him.

He is so transparent in his self - interest that I kind of respect him.

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