Reactions to Failure: Self-Sabotage When Giftedness Is Viewed as Fixed

• In Event: Achievement Goals and Beliefs

Abstract

The current study explored the possibility that messages about the nature of giftedness and academic failure predict self-handicapping, a behavior that can undermine academic performance and lead to underachievement. A 2 (message about giftedness: entity, incremental) × 2 (problem-solving experience: success, failure) between-subjects design was employed with behavioral self-handicapping and claimed self-handicapping as dependent variables. An incremental message buffered the effect of academic failure; after gifted status was threatened by failure, participants who heard an incremental message behaviorally self-handicapped to a lesser degree than those who had heard an entity message. Among female students, the reaction to failure versus success was more detrimental to those receiving entity messages, resulting in greater claimed self-handicapping. Implications for identifying gifted students are discussed.

Authors

• Jenessa Malin, University of Maryland

• Kate E. Snyder, University of Louisville

• Amy L. Dent, Duke University

• Lisa Linnenbrink-Garcia, Duke University