Self-Handicapping
Misconception vs. Truth
Misconception: In all you do, you strive for success.
Truth:
You often create conditions for failure ahead of time to protect your ego.
Self-Handicapping Behavior
- Definition: Self-handicapping involves creating obstacles and excuses to shield your ego from potential failure.
- Purpose: Used to protect self-esteem by blaming failures on external factors rather than internal incompetence.
Example: Hypochondria
- Hypochondriacs, in particular, exemplify self-handicapping by invoking illness to avoid challenging tasks.
Psychological Mechanisms
- Reality Negotiation: An unconscious manipulation of perceptions to preemptively create excuses for possible failures.
- Anticipatory Rationalization: Similar to sour grapes and sweet lemons rationalizations, but occurs before the outcome is known.
- Boosting Self-Esteem: Ensures failures don’t impact perceived competence by attributing them to external causes.
Initial Research by Berglas and Jones (1978)
- Experiment: Students took difficult tests and were falsely told they scored perfectly.
- Findings: Given the choice, most students opted for a performance-inhibiting drug before a second test to protect their ego from potential failure.
Common Self-Handicapping Behaviors
- Wearing inappropriate clothes to important events, choosing suboptimal options in games, or drinking before a significant day.
- Creates conditions where success despite odds boosts self-esteem, or failure can be blamed on controllable factors.
Research by Alter and Forgas (2006)
- Experiment: Participants primed with success or failure and then subjected to mood-inducing videos.
- Findings: Those in good moods were more likely to self-handicap to maintain their positive self-view.
- Sad individuals tended to be more honest and less likely to self-handicap.
Ego and Identity
- Self-Perception: People who tie their identity closely to their performance are more likely to engage in self-handicapping.
- Gender Differences: Men self-handicap more often than women, though reasons remain unclear.
Practical Implications
- Self-handicapping provides a psychological buffer against failure but also reinforces avoidance behaviors.
- Awareness and preparation can mitigate the tendency to self-handicap and encourage facing challenges proactively.