Final answer:
The accurate statement regarding the self-serving bias is that actors' attributions for positive events are typically dispositional, meaning individuals attribute their successes to internal factors like their own abilities.
Step-by-step explanation:
The correct statement about the self-serving bias is that actors' attributions for positive events are dispositional. This means that individuals tend to attribute their own successes to internal factors, such as abilities or effort, rather than external circumstances. For example, if a student does well on a test, they might attribute this positive event to their intelligence or hard work (dispositional factors), rather than the test being easy (situational factor). The self-serving bias serves to protect and enhance an individual's self-esteem.
In contrast, when it comes to negative events, individuals are more likely to make situational attributions, blaming external factors rather than internal, dispositional factors. This is part of the actor-observer bias, where we tend to attribute others' behavior to internal causes and our own to external factors. Therefore, the statement that actors' attributions for negative events are dispositional is not correct instead, they are more frequently situational.
This tendency can be influenced by cultural factors as well, with some cultures emphasizing dispositional factors more than others. Additionally, the fundamental attribution error is closely related, as it describes the phenomenon where people overemphasize dispositional explanations for others' behaviors while underestimating situational influences.