People want to feel positively about themselves, and most manage to see themselves favorably much of the time. The fact that most of us show the above-average effect—which is thinking we are better than the average person on almost every dimension imaginable—is strong evidence of our desire to see the self relatively positively. Even when we are directly provided with negative social feedback that contradicts our rosy view of ourselves, we show evidence of forgetting such instances and emphasizing information that supports our favored positive self-perceptions. As described in Chapter 3, people reliably show self-serving biases when explaining their personal outcomes. Information that might imply we are responsible for negative outcomes is assessed critically, and our ability to refute such arguments appears to be rather remarkable. Consider the Beyond the Headlines section showing the extremes to which people can take this. As children we adopt the mantra, “It’s not my fault,” which we take with us into adulthood. We can use this when it comes to explanations for outcomes for which we might be blamed, regardless of whether we are innocent or guilty. Overusing this excuse, though, can have important consequences for how others evaluate us. In contrast to our resistance to accepting responsibility for negative outcomes, we easily accept information that suggests we are responsible for our successes. This is especially the case for people with high self-esteem. Not only do people show self-serving biases for their personal outcomes, but they also do so for their group’s achievements. Fans of sports teams often believe that their presence and cheering was responsible for their team’s success. People in groups that perform well tend to claim primary responsibility for those outcomes, while those who have been randomly assigned to groups that failed do not make this claim. There are, however, culture-based limits on people’s willingness to “grab the credit.” For example, in China, modesty is an important basis for self-esteem. Accordingly, Chinese students attribute their success in school to their teachers, whereas American students attribute it to their own skills and intelligence. Conversely, when it comes to failure, Chinese students are more likely to explain their failure as stemming from their own flaws, while Americans tend to explain their failures as being due to someone else’s fault. Given the many techniques that people have in their arsenal for maintaining self-esteem, it is reasonable to ask whether high self-esteem is a crucial goal for which we should all strive. Indeed, some social scientists have suggested that the lack of high self-esteem (or presence of low self-esteem) is the root of many social ills, including drug abuse, poor school performance, depression, and various forms of violence, including terrorism. Some have argued that low self-esteem might be an important cause of aggression and general negativity toward others. However, strong evidence has now accumulated in favor of the opposite conclusion—that high self-esteem is more strongly associated with bullying, narcissism, exhibitionism, self-aggrandizing and interpersonal aggression. For example, it is men with high self-esteem, not those with low self-esteem, who are most likely to commit violent acts when someone disputes their favorable view of themselves. Why might this be the case? To the extent that high self-esteem implies superiority to others, that view of the self may need to be defended with some frequency—whenever the individual’s pride is threatened. It may even be that high self-esteem coupled with instability (making for greater volatility) results in the most hostility and defensive responding. When those with unstable high self-esteem experience failure, their underlying self doubt is reflected in physiological responses indicative of threat. Thus, while there are clear benefits for individuals to have a favorable view of themselves, there also appears to be a potential downside.