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ego
You sabotage your performance to protect your ego.
Self-handicapping is the tendency to create obstacles to your own success so you have a ready-made excuse for failure.
By placing hurdles in your own path, such as staying up late before a presentation, you ensure that failure reflects a lack of effort rather than a lack of ability. This shields your self-esteem from the possibility of innate incompetence. It preserves your perception of potential.
You prefer to be seen as lazy rather than incapable.
Where this comes from
- Study
- Berglas and Jones, 1978
- What the check found
- The definition is standard in social psychology. The provided reference material lacked the quote, but the claim accurately reflects the foundational 1978 paper by Berglas and Jones.
- Confidence
- Solid, with limits
Related
One of these every day, and every one names the study it came from. When a finding is contested, it says so.