Abstract

The present study examined the effect of self-serving and group-serving attribution on the impression judgments. More specifically, Study1 and Study2 examined the hypotheses that self-serving attribution would elicit negative evaluations while group-serving(or teammate-serving, in Study2) attribution in comparison with self-serving attribution would elicit less negative evaluations. The results of Study1 and Study2 demonstrated that as expected, those who attributed the individual's or group's success to his own ability was judged as less warm and humble, and consequently as less likable, than those who attributed to other factors. However, as expected, those who attributed success to own effort were evaluated positively in terms of social(Study1) as well as ability(Study2) attributes. In the case of the attributions regarding group task performance, unlike the hypothesis, the evaluations toward those who attributed group success to group ability were as negative as those who showed self-serving ability attribution. However, those who attributed group failure to lack of group ability were evaluated more negatively than those who attributed personal failure of themselves to lack of own ability, thus partially supporting the hypothesis.