Explain what is meant by self-handicapping, and describe Berglas and Jones’s classic study in which they used analogies to help them study self-handicapping.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Ans: Self-handicapping is the term used to describe occurrences when people act in ways that may undermine their subsequent performances, thereby having anticipatory excuses for potential failures.
The Berglas and Jones gave college students analogies to solve, after which all participants were told that they had performed well, although some of the analogies were unsolvable. Before working on a second set of analogies, the students had the choice of taking a performance-enhancing drug or a performance-impairing drug. Men (but not women) who had been told they had done well on the unsolvable analogies chose the drug that would hinder their performance, presumably because they had no confidence that they would continue to perform well. Subsequent research has found that men (but not women) tend to self-handicap through strategies that will actually hamper their performance (e.g., by failing to practice or study) (Hirt, McCrea, and Kimble, 2000), On the other hand, the research shows that both men and women tend to claim excuses ahead of time; for instance, prior to the time of performance, they may point to potentially debilitating stress or physical illness. Relatedly, Mello-Goldner and Jackson (1999) discovered that female college students who reported premenstrual syndrome (PMS) symptoms scored higher on a self-handicapping measure than did woman who did not report such symptoms.
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Self-Perceptions and Their Academic Consequences
Difficulty Level: Medium