Self-serving attributional bias and hedonic and eudaimonic aspects of well-being

Abstract

Research has shown that the self-serving attributional bias (SSAB), which is defined as the tendency of individuals to make more internal, stable and global attributions for positive than for negative events, is inversely related to negative aspects of well-being such as depressive symptoms. However, while on one hand, well-being is not the absence of negative symptoms, on the other hand, well-being is a multidimensional construct which includes hedonic and eudaimonic aspects. Hedonic well-being, which is also labeled subjective as well-being, refers to predominance of positive over negative affect and a global cognitive evaluation of the satisfaction with one’s life as a whole. Eudaimonic well-being, sometimes labeled as psychological well-being, includes subjective evaluations of effective psychological functioning. The main goal of the present study was to analyze the relationships between SSAB and positive hedonic and eudaimonic aspects of well-being, something which has not been studied up till now. Two hundred and fifty five individuals (114 male and 141 female, mean age 36.46 years, SD 10.83, and range from 18 to 60) participated in the study. The results showed that SSAB is directly related to all the positive hedonic and eudaimonic aspects of well-being. Moreover, people with SSAB scored on all well-being variables higher than people without SSAB. This suggests that the self-serving attributional bias is an adaptive feature of human cognition which would have a protective role for mental health.