Buying boards (self-serving bias)

Moon (2003) presented that in accordance with the self-serving bias, when consumer shopping online made purchases that had positive outcomes they felt that they were responsible for these outcomes, but whenever something went wrong with the purchase the computer got the blame. In my own personal experience I have made this form of the self-serving bias when purchasing my surfboards. As you all should know by now I surf, and I started when I was 15 years old. The first board I owned was a 8’6” funboard that worked like a charm and never gave me any trouble and I felt that I had made a good purchase and that I was a decent surfer. Two years after that I wanted to graduate to a short board, and so I went to the same guy that made my first board, knowing that he was one of the best board makers on the gulf coast. I picked out a 6’4” thruster that was previously a competition board. However, the first few times that I took the board out I discovered that it was a “sinker,” a board that is prone to sinking under the weight of the rider, and instead of thinking, “oh, well I just need more practice to get better at riding the board.” I immediately blamed the board and the man that had sold it to me. The board wasn’t good enough and he had ripped me off. However, the fact that boards are expensive and I was a broke highschool student well on my way to becoming a broke college student I kept the board, and reluctantly practiced with it until I started to notice that I was improving and once again it was well because I was such an awesome surfer. I did all this knowing that comparatively I am not all that great of a surfer and that the board I bought were both very good high quality boards, but it did make me feel better about my self, and as we discussed in class that is really the main function of the self-serving bias.

Moon, Youngme (2003). Don’t blame the computer: When self-disclosure moderates the
self-serving bias. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 13(1&2), 125-137