Self-Handicapping and School

Impact of academic psychological capital on academic achievement among university undergraduates: Roles of flow and self‐handicapping behavior

“…The self‐handicapping and self‐regulation cycle (Rhodewalt & Tragakis, ; Rhodewalt & Vohs, ) provides a theoretical model for explaining the association among academic self‐handicapping, academic PsyCap, and achievement. This model suggests that distal drives, such as unclear self‐conceptions about ability or low levels of self‐efficacy (a core component of academic PsyCap), may lead to poor performance expectations in the upcoming examinations that may result in a pessimistic approach to the examinations.…”

Why do students use strategies that hurt their chances of academic success? A meta-analysis of antecedents of academic self-handicapping.

“…According to the original work by Berglas and Jones (1978) and conceptual contributions by other experts in the field (e.g., Covington, 2004; Martin et al, 2001; Midgley et al, 1996; Rhodewalt & Tragakis, 2002), we consider the experience of self-esteem threat as the most proximal predictor of self-handicapping in academic contexts. As proposed in several theoretical models (e.g., Covington, 2004; Rhodewalt & Tragakis, 2002), the two central psychological triggers for self-esteem threat and subsequent self-handicapping are students’ low expectancies of success and concerns about how one might be perceived by others (i.e., self-representation and social acceptance). A number of self-related beliefs, emotional-motivational variables, and personality traits have been used to operationalize these two psychological triggers…”

“…As shown in Figure 1, variables referring to the academic context (e.g., ability self-concept) are likely to be more proximal and thus stronger predictors of academic self-handicapping than global constructs that do not specifically refer to the academic domain (e.g., self-esteem). Beyond the approach of Rhodewalt and Tragakis (2002) and in line with the established expectancy-value theory (Eccles & Wigfield, 2020), we assume in our framework model that prior levels of achievement have a large influence on students’ expectation of success for future performance situations, so that prior achievement also represents a significant antecedent of self-handicapping. In a similar vein, the widely used self-worth motivation theory by Covington (2004) suggests that students’ school grades (G) are often interpreted by students as an indicator of ability in a given field (G = A), which, in turn, is interpreted as an indicator of students’ personal worth and value to others (G = A = W).…”

“…Whether a person is more mastery-oriented or more performance-oriented is in turn significantly influenced by their implicit theories of intelligence. People who believe that their intelligence and aptitude are malleable (as opposed to fixed) are more likely to pursue mastery (over performance) goals because mastery goals focus on the development (rather than demonstration) of competence 4 (Dweck & Leggett, 1988; Rhodewalt & Tragakis, 2002). Furthermore, achievement goal theory suggests that students’ fear of failure and test anxiety might elicit students’ self-handicapping by increasing the probability of students’ pursuit of performance-oriented over mastery-oriented goals (e.g., Elliot & Church, 2003).…”

Academic self-handicapping and achievement: A meta-analysis.

“…A theoretical framework for the relation between academic self-handicapping and achievement is provided by the Self-Handicapping and Self-Regulation Cycle (Rhodewalt & Tragakis, 2002; Rhodewalt & Vohs, 2005). In this model, distal motives such as uncertain self-conceptions of competence or low self-esteem lead to decreased performance expectancies for upcoming tests.…”