Self-Attribution Bias

When one attributes successful outcomes to their personal abilities but unsuccessful ones to external factors or “sabotage”. This leads to overconfidence, as one might expect!

NoteExample

Two businesses

Successes in business attempts become evidence of skill, while failures become evidence of unfair external factors at play. Neither attribution enables accurate self-assessment.

“My AirBnB listings would have succeeded despite the tourism growth in the country the past 5 years. But the boat business? It failed because the competitors weren’t paying their taxes”.

Also relates to: Overconfidence · Confirmation Bias · Hindsight Bias · Illusion of Control · Causality and Attribution