Self-Handicapping and Attributional Styles- Impact on Success and Failure Judgments

Self-Handicapping and Attributional Styles- Impact on Success and Failure Judgments

Question 1: Self-Handicapping

I was supposed to apply for a fellowship program abroad. I kept telling myself that I was not really qualified to learn in that kind of environment. At the same time, I was not feeling well, and I was under medication. I told myself that perhaps I felt that way about the fellowship because I was ill. However, as days went by, I started feeling better, but the medications made me feel drowsy and weak. On the application deadline, I started applying for the fellowship but did not finish because I told myself I was not feeling strong enough to write five essays for the application. I ended up not applying for the fellowship and was, therefore, not considered as a potential candidate. I told myself that I would consider applying for another opportunity earlier and make a decision earlier about whether I am really interested or not. According to Saylor.org, this was self-handicapping because I made a statement that because I was feeling weak and unsteady, I could not write five application essays (making it convenient for me), which led to my failure to be considered as a potential candidate. Our assignment writing help is at affordable prices to students of all academic levels and academic disciplines.

Question 2: Attributional style

According to Shaver (2015), persons with positive attributional styles are likely to refer to statements of external attribution, unstable attribution, and specific attribution, such as the work was difficult, they would do better, or that they are better in other matters. I think my attributional style is positive because, after I did not apply, I told myself the essay questions were too involving, I was out of time (external attribution), I was not feeling well (external attribution), and I would apply for the next opportunity early enough (unstable attribution).

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Question 3: Attitudes toward people, products, or other attitude objects

My attitudes toward my friends are strong and, more often than not, determined by cognition rather than effect. Shaver (2015) posits that affect is the feeling that people experience in their everyday lives. Despite feeling sad or disappointed when friends do not deliver in accordance with how I expected them to, at the end of the day, I try to talk with them to understand their standpoint and why that was the case. Even when their explanation does not seem acceptable to me, I make my own judgment, for instance, that they were just not willing to do what I wanted them to do. Shaver (2015) argues that such an active interpretation of a circumstance is social cognition because my friend may interpret the failure to do otherwise. For instance, she may say that she was traveling at the moment or that she thought she could do it, but the task was too hard. My behavior thereafter would be to protect my feelings from being hurt in similar circumstances by either seeking the help of a more reliable person, changing the way I request things, or doing certain things myself, for instance.

Question 4: Factors Affecting Attitudes

I once decided not to rely on a friend for that kind of assistance because they disappointed other people as well and not just me. At another time, I did not act because the friend gave a logical explanation as to why they could not come through. I think factors such as constant human behavior, convenience, and timing determine the difference in whether to act on an attitude or not.

Question 5: Resistance To Persuasion

The first step would be to create a rapport with the child to understand their goals, desires, and motivation; Stangor (2014) states that persuaders need to comprehend how the message they present relates to the message recipient- their goals, desires, and motivation. This way, the child would be able to understand that I am attentive to his/her message and would feel comfortable accepting my advice because it makes them feel good about themselves. Therefore, creating a positive association with a child is important in this case as it would help the child respond positively. As Stangor (2014) argues, creating a positive association with a product makes it more likely to be acceptable, and people would respond positively.

References

Shaver, K. G. (2015). Principles of social psychology. Psychology Press.

Stangor, C. (2014). Changing Attitudes through Persuasion. Principles of Social Psychology-1st International Edition.

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This is a short essay assignment with a mixture of multiple-choice/short answer and essay questions that cite evidence or research to explain/support your answer.

Your essay answers must be in your own words, with paraphrasing properly source credited. Quotes in lieu of answering in your own words will not receive points.

Self-Handicapping and Attributional Styles- Impact on Success and Failure Judgments

Please submit your responses as a Word document (.docx file). Make sure to number your responses so your instructor will know where one response ends and the next starts. It is not necessary to rewrite each question in your document. For multiple choice questions, CLEARLY indicate your response (a, b, c, or d) so that your instructor does not have to search and try to determine your response in your short answer explanation.

Each response is worth 20 possible points. Please see the attached Rubric for the grading schematic that will be used to evaluate your responses. Your responses should be approximately one-half page each (double-spaced) for a total of three pages (not including Title and References Pages if you choose to include them).

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Consider a time when you or someone you knew engaged in self-handicapping. What was the outcome of doing so?
Do you think that you have a more positive or a more negative attributional style? How do you think this style influences your judgments about your own successes and failures?
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3. Consider some of your attitudes toward people, products, or other attitude objects. Are your attitudes strong or weak? Are they determined more by effect or by cognition? How do the attitudes influence your behavior?

4. Consider a time when you acted on your own attitudes and a time when you did not act on your own attitudes. What factors do you think determined the difference?

5. Based on our discussion of resistance to persuasion, what techniques would you use to help a child resist the pressure to start smoking or using recreational drugs?