Loading...
Regulating self-defensiveness: If–then plans prevent claiming and creating performance handicaps
Thuermer, Lukas McCrea, Sean M. Gollwitzer, Peter
Thuermer, Lukas
McCrea, Sean M.
Gollwitzer, Peter
Abstract
Description
Claiming or creating obstacles before performing important tasks (i.e., self-handicapping) is a costly strategy to protect the self from implications of poor outcomes. We predicted that forming an if-then plan (implementation intention) helps individuals overcome their performance-related worries and thus prevents self-handicapping behavior. In two experiments, all participants formed the goal to perform well on an upcoming task and learned the strategies to ignore worries and tell themselves “I can do it”, either in an if-then format (implementation intention) or not (control). The task was either described as an intelligence test (highly threatening) or as a perception style test (less threatening). Participants could then claim a self-handicap (report stress, Experiment 1) or behaviorally self-handicap (inadequately prepare, Experiment 2). As predicted, implementation intentions reduced claimed and behavioral self-handicapping to levels observed in the low-threat control conditions. Experiment 2 demonstrated these effects among chronic self-handicappers. Implications of these findings are discussed.
Date
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Springer
Research Projects
Organizational Units
Journal Issue
Keywords
planning,self-handicapping