ative behaviors to external conditions, but attribute the positive behaviors to internal causes (Baron & Byrne, 2000). An example of this would be if someone won a talent contest, and they attributed it to their remarkable talent. If they lost they would attribute it to the judges’ stupidity and inability to know talent when they see it.The self-serving bias operates on the basis that people attribute negative outcomes to external causes in order to protect their self-esteem and make themselves look better in the eyes’ of their peers (Brown & Levinson, 1987). Often times the type of attribution that a person makes will affect how other people view them (Floyd, 2000). For example, if someone attributes not receiving a pay raise due to their company’s budget cuts (external cause) people will view the situation differently than if they explain it was because they had not been doing their job properly (internal cause). The fundamental attribution error (correspondence bias) says that “all things being equal” people will consider another person’s negative outcomes as due to controllable behaviors, rather than uncontrollable behaviors (Floyd, 2000). While self-serving bias and fundamental attribution error both have implications for the actor (the person whose behavior is being judged), only the self-serving bias has the assumption that there are implications for the attribution-maker. Floyd’s study examined the ability of the self-serving bias to predict attribution- making about others’ behaviors, when the behaviors have implications for that person. It also tested to see if the fundamental attribution error’s predictions regarding attributions about others’ behaviors when those behaviors do not have implications for the self. The behaviors examined in this study were the nonverbal expression of liking and disliking. In the study, Floyd examined the attributions of partici...
