Self-Handicapping and Protecting the Ego at a Cost

Self-handicapping involves engaging in behaviors that sabotage your chances of success. Why would people do things that might make them more likely to fail? We all want to feel good about ourselves, but researchers have found that we sometimes go so far as to hurt our chances of success in order to avoid taking responsibilities for our failures.

例如，当面临重要考试时，学生可能会留在整夜以避免学习。然后，当他们做得不好时，他们可以将他们的贫困分数归咎于他们的朋友，以便让他们迟到而不是自己缺乏智力。

Simply put, self-handicapping allows people to find an outside source to blame for possible failures. While this can be an effective strategy for protecting self-esteem, it can understandably have a significantly negative impact on success.

让我们仔细看看为什么自我障碍发生以及这种行为的潜在结果。

Why Do People Self-Handicap?

心理学家发现，我们都有强烈需要责备我们在外国部队的失败，同时为我们的成功造成个人信誉。这种行为可以保护我们的行为self-esteem，但它也可以让我们做一些实际使我们不太可能成功的事情。

这种趋势被称为自我障碍，被定义为自我破坏的行动或选择，以防止人们对结果负有个人责任。基本上，人们创造了障碍，以便可以将任何可能的失败归咎于这些外力。当人们意识到自己缺乏技能或准备导致结果时，失败会导致不适。

There are many different forms of self-handicapping. Sometimes this behavior can be fairly innocuous, but in some instances, it can be much more serious. In some cases, it might even drive people to engage in potentially dangerous behavior.

For example, students mightprocrastinateon their homework or put off studying until the very last minute. Athletes might skip practice or stay up late the night before a big game. In some cases, people might engage in more dangerous forms of self-handicapping such as abusing drugs and alcohol.

Researchers have suggested that self-handicapping can be linked to what is known as theself-serving bias, in which people claim personal credit for success but blame outside forces for their failures.

Imagine, for example, that you have been preparing to compete in your very first marathon. You've been following a training schedule and eating a healthy diet, but as race day approaches, you find yourself doubting your ability to successfully reach the finish line.

In the weeks and days leading up to the big race, you find yourself skipping your training sessions and binge eating junk food. When the day finally arrives to compete in the marathon, you find yourself feeling sluggish and out of shape. As a result of these self-handicapping behaviors, you are able to blame your inability to finish the race on being out of shape or bloated rather than your possible lack of ability.

自我障碍研究

The phenomenon was first described by researchers Stephen Berglas and Edward Jones in a 1978 study that involved randomly assigning students to complete anagrams, some of which were solvable and some of which were not.

之后，所有的学生都被告知他们做得很好。这反馈明显令人不安，并令人困惑地赋予未解决的Anagrams。他们被告知他们做得很好，但不知道他们如何或为什么。

“These are the people who are told they are brilliant, without knowing how that inference is derived,” said Dr. Berglas explained to The New York Times in 2009.

然后，志愿者询问他们是否希望在拍摄另一次测试之前要服用性能增强或性能抑制药物。在参与者中，70％的人曾被赋予未解决的Anagrams选择采取抑制性能抑制药物，而仅有13％被赋予可解变的anagrams。

Why would some choose the drug designed to impair their performance on a test? These results suggest that when people are confident in their abilities to perform a task, they would prefer to be given something that would help them perform even better. Those who are unsure of their abilities, however, are more likely to want the drug that will hurt their performance, thus giving them an external source to blame for their possible failures.

The Effects

The purpose of all this self-sabotage is to protect the自我and self-esteem, and experts have found that it does actually work. People with high self-esteem have been shown to engage in more self-handicapping. For many people, these behaviors happen almost自动地。在我们甚至尝试之前，我们会借口失败，但我们经常这样做unconsciously。

While self-handicapping might go a long way in protecting our self-esteem, it can also have serious negative side-effects. If you are placing barriers to success in your path, there is no way that you are giving yourself all the chances you should for achieving your goals. Not only that, by hindering your chances, you are essentially lowering your expectations for yourself both now and in the future.

研究员Sean Mccrea也发现，自动化可以导致更低动机和更少的动机,试图在未来取得成功。In a series of experiments, he manipulated participants' scores on智商测试。一些参与者获得了准备考试或加入“无惯”组的选择。Those who then received bad scores were more likely to blame their lack of practice, but McCrae also found in later experiments that those who had an excuse for their low scores (i.e., distractions, lack of preparation, etc.) were less motivated to prepare for a future test than those who didn't have an external source to blame.

“障碍允许他们说，'所有考虑的事情，我真的很好地做得很好，”麦克法雷告诉本尼迪奇凯莉写作The New York Times。"And there’s no drive to get better."

更多的负面后果的自我-handicapping:

• 每周学习，从事自我障碍报告的学生少花费。
• Self-handicappers also tend to have lower grades overall.
• 在参与任务之前，它们也更有可能使用酒精。
• It also hurts social relationships. Self-handicappers always seem to have an excuse, so they are often viewed as "whiners." Researchers have found that self-handicappers are rated more negatively by their peers.

Self-handicapping can protect the ego, but it comes with significant costs. Placing obstacles to success might provide excuses for failures, but it also makes us more likely to fail. Do you feel good about yourself now or do you give it your all and risk failure? The research suggests that while your self-esteem might take a temporary hit, giving up self-handicapping behaviors might be better for future success.

从幸免深处的一个词

如果您怀疑您从事自我障碍，请与治疗师说话。持牌心理健康专业人员可万博手机客户端以帮助您克服自我破坏，以便您可以达到您的目标并对自己感觉更好。