Self-Handicapping

 

 Understanding Self-Handicapping: Why Students Sabotage Their Success

 

Imagine there is a student named Jane who maintains the top academic position in her class. During midterm season, she lost her focus. Her evening routine, which she typically follows by preparing in advance, has changed because she plans to watch TV and socialize with friends late into the night. Results day reveals that she has received lower grades. She tells her friends about the situation, saying, "I didn't really study much this time." This behavior displays the fundamental pattern of self-handicapping, although it may seem like normal teenage conduct.

What is Self-Handicapping?

Self-handicapping is when individuals create obstacles and excuses to avoid self-blame when they do poorly on a task. By setting up these barriers to their success, they can attribute any possible failures to external factors rather than their lack of ability or effort. This behavior is seen in educational settings, where the pressure to perform might lead students like Jane to lose their chances for success to protect their self-esteem if performing poorly in a test or task.

I remember once I had an in class activity that gave me the chance of having one to one conversations with my students and there was one student that I talked to and saw how accurate his responses were to the activity questions. However, when it came to the class discussion when I asked students to share their answers, while looking at him expecting to see a response but I did not see it. In such situations instructors might need to self-reflect on their strategies or seek why that behavior exists! Sometimes self-handicapping behaviors might be as result of previous experiences so even if the learning environment is safe but still these behaviors occur!

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Effects of Self-handicapping (Torok et al., 2019) :

People use self-handicapping primarily to safeguard their self-esteem from damage. When individuals introduce obstacles before negative outcomes they wish to explain they maintain their self-image in situations of failure. The behavior disrupts the connection between ability and performance thus putting self-worth at risk.

Through self-handicapping techniques people can shape the perceptions which others have about their abilities. The implementation of self-imposed limitations before achieving success creates a stronger impression of accomplishment thus building better reputation. A person who fails under such circumstances can justify their failure by citing the handicap instead of their actual lack of ability.

Studies have proven that self-handicapping behaviors progressively deteriorate academic results over time. The persistent use of barriers and excuses results in diminished engagement alongside worse academic results because this practice typically involves reduced efforts toward academic assignments.

Some students who self-handicap use this method to manage their academic performance-related stress and anxiety. Students who self-handicap use this practice to stay unengaged with demanding tasks in order to decrease current stress levels and fear of academic failure.

The emotional benefits of self-handicapping last only in the short-term but produce negative consequences over time. Students who create self-imposed handicaps develop performance problems and motivational decreases because they start to believe in their own limitations which slows their growth in both academics and personal development.

 However, whether self-handicapping is situation based trait or personality trait is still not clear. Maybe most of us at some showed these behaviors in some cases but not always. This keeps us thinking to view self-capping as result of the environment. 

 

Reference:

Török, L., Szabó, Z.P. & Tóth, L. A critical review of the literature on academic self-handicapping: theory, manifestations, prevention and measurement. Soc Psychol Educ 21, 1175–1202 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11218-018-9460-z