This experiment investigated self-serving attribution strategies designed to account for one's own and another's success or failure at an interpersonal judgment task. Using the dimensions of stability and locus of potential causes first proposed by Weiner, analysis was made of self-other differences in attributions of ability, task difficulty, effort, and luck. Results showed that the tendency toward self-serving attributions was modified by the reality constraints of relative task outcomes, with one exception. Regardless of outcomes, subjects never admitted that the other exerted more effort than they did at the task. For the other potential causes, self-other differences in attributions were dependent on the observed outcomes. The results are discussed in light of the stability and locus characteristics of each potential cause and the complex concerns that govern self-serving attributions.
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