Self-Handicapping and Academics

As a college student like many others, I am sure I am not the only one to burn out around half way through the semester. Between work, school, family commitments, and life that just happens unexpectedly, it is easy to feel overwhelmed and discouraged especially when classes are getting to the bulk of the semester or work becomes more stressful than usual. When feeling burned out it can be difficult to take a much needed break for a day or two when everything else is going on. Something will probably have to not be completed if you take that break with so much happening. Unfortunately, usually the easiest thing to slack on is school. Work is needed to pay the bills, family will usually hold a person accountable if commitments have been with them, and the unexpected is just that. School can be stressful not only because of the content and assignments but also the time needed to spend on each course.

A typical situation as a result of this might be going out with friends if invited instead of staying home and doing that difficult assignment that is due by the end of the night. Or maybe a person’s brother or sister invites them stay with them for a weekend getaway before this person had any time to study for a big test that they were already not confident in passing. If a person is burned out and the opportunity presents itself, they are more likely to say – yes, sure why not? I deserve a break. – knowing that their work and grades will suffer, especially if they are not feeling confident about the task. A typical excuse is – yeah, my grade will suffer but I have done most of my other tests and assignments and I really need a break. This is an example of self-handicapping. This is when we create barriers to successful performance before or during a task of achievement (Alexitch, 2012).

Research has shown that both men and women usually make excuses ahead of time to make the lack of good performance more acceptable (Smith, 2012). When students expect that they may do poorly on an important task, they often participate in practices that will decrease their chance of achievement so the excuse conceals any lack of ability. Self-handicapping is very relevant in academics because academic achievement reflects intelligence which has many chances of being on display. Self-handicapping behavior provides an excuse for their poor performance instead of their lack of ability (Urdan, 2009).

Procrastination is a typical form of self-handicapping. Research has shown that students who began studying for exams later than other students earned lower grades, lower GPAs, and spent less time on academic work resulting in inefficient exam preparation (Smith, 2012). An example of procrastination and self-handicapping is a student who procrastinates until late at night before starting to write their final paper that is due in the morning who will most likely not complete a well written paper and may attribute their poor performance to procrastination. The procrastination behavior is considered self-handicapping if the purpose of the procrastination is to excuse their anticipated poor performance (Urdan, 2009). Self-handicapping is then an intentional undermining behavior that individuals participate in to create the impression that their behavior causes the poor performance and not their lack of ability (Berglas & Jones, 1978).

References:
Berglas, S., & Jones, E. E. (1978). Drug choice as a self-handicapping strategy in response to noncontingent success. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 36, 405–417.

L. Alexitch. (2012). Applying Social Psychology to Education. In F. Schneider, J. Gruman, & L. Coutts (Eds.), Applied Social Psychology: Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications.

R. Smith. (2012). Applying Social Psychology to the Classroom. In F. Schneider, J. Gruman, & L. Coutts (Eds.), Applied Social Psychology: Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications.

Urdan, T. (2009, December 23). Self-Handicapping. http://www.education.com/reference/article/self-handicapping/

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