Drug choice as a self-handicapping strategy in response to noncontingent success
Berglas and Jones, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 36(4), 1978, 405-417. College students chose between a drug said to impair performance and one said to enhance it. In Experiment 1, males given apparently accidental success preferred the impairing drug, which could serve as an excuse for an expected failure on a retest; the effect did not appear for females. Experiment 2 replicated the male pattern and found success feedback critical to it.
Berglas and Jones, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 36(4), 1978, 405-417. College students chose between a drug said to impair performance and one said to enhance it. In Experiment 1, males given apparently accidental success preferred the impairing drug, which could serve as an excuse for an expected failure on a retest; the effect did not appear for females. Experiment 2 replicated the male pattern and found success feedback critical to it.
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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(4), 405-417. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.36.4.405 https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.36.4.405