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    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Self-Handicapping: The Paradox That Isn't

Self-Handicapping: The Paradox That Isn't

Higgins, Raymond L.
Snyder, C. R.
Berglas, Steven

Hardcover

Series: The Springer Social Clinical Psychology

CognitionGeneral PsychologyMental Health

ISBN10: 0306435403
ISBN13: 9780306435409
Publisher: Springer Nature
Published: Jun 30 1990
Pages: 292
Weight: 1.36
Height: 0.75 Width: 6.14 Depth: 9.21
Language: English
The concept of self-handicapping can be legitimately anchored in a vari- ety of intellectual contexts, some old and some newer. As this volume reminds us, Alfred Adler was perhaps the first to articulate the signifi- cance of various self-defeating claims and gestures for protecting the self- concept. Thus the apparent paradox of defeat in the interests of pro- tection. More recently (but still more than 30 years ago), Heider's naive psychology added attributional rhetoric to the description of self-defeat- ing strategies. While predominantly cognitive in its thrust, the attribu- tional approach incorporated several motivational influences-especially those involving egocentric concerns. Heider hardly violated our common sense when he suggested that people are inclined to attribute their performances in a self-serving manner: the good things I caused; the bad things were forced upon me. The notion of self-handicapping strategies, proposed by Berglas and myself a little more than a decade ago, capitalized on these homely truths while adding a particular proactive twist. We not only make ex- cuses for our blunders; we plan our engagements and our situational choices so that self-protective excuses are unnecessary. In doing so, we use our attributional understanding to arrange things so that flawed and failing performances will not be interpreted in ways that threaten our self-esteem.

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