Causality Orientations and the Disappearance of the Self-Serving Bias

Theoretical work (Deci & Ryan, 1987) has implicated causality orientations as potential moderators of defensive attributions. The present study examined whether autonomy and control orientations moderate the attributional tendency to take more responsibility for success than failure. We examined both additive and synergistic models of the effect of causality orientations on self-serving attributions. We found that this self-serving bias disappeared for those with the unique combination of a high autonomy orientation and a low control orientation, thereby supporting a synergistic model. It was also shown that self-serving attribution was stronger for performance on a skill task than on a chance task.