Attributions, deception, and event related potentials: an investigation of the self-serving bias

Psychophysiology. 2008 Jul;45(4):511-5. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-8986.2008.00659.x. Epub 2008 Feb 11.

Abstract

Self-serving attributions occur when negative personal outcomes are ascribed to external circumstances and when positive outcomes are ascribed to internal factors. Individuals strategically employ the self-serving bias to maintain and protect positive self-views. The current study investigated the neural correlates of the self-serving bias using dense array EEG, giving 20 participants false (success or failure) feedback during a facial working memory task. Participants made self-serving attributions during the task, primarily following failure feedback. Voltage and source analyses in response to attribution stimuli revealed that, compared to self-serving responses, non-self-serving attributions were preceded by enhanced dorsomedial frontal cortex activity. This finding suggests that unbiased attributions require greater self-control, overriding the automatic tendency for self-enhancement.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Cognition / physiology
  • Electroencephalography
  • Evoked Potentials / physiology*
  • Facial Expression
  • Feedback, Psychological
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Lie Detection / psychology*
  • Male
  • Memory, Short-Term / physiology