The roles of self-esteem and self-consciousness in the Wortman-Brehm model of reactance and learned helplessness

The present experiments were designed to study the conditions under which failure would enhance or inhibit subsequent task performance. Based on the theory of Wortman and Brehm (1975), it was expected that small amounts of failure would produce reactance (manifested by improved performance at a subsequent task), whereas large amounts would lead to learned helplessness (i.e., impaired later performance). It was further expected that individual differences in self-esteem and private self-consciousness would serve as moderator variables for the above effects. In Experiment 1, subjects were exposed to either a small amount of failure or no failure before working on an anagrams task. As predicted, subjects high in self-consciousness, who have shown greater reactance arousal in attitude change studies, performed better on the anagrams task than subjects low in self-consciousness in the small-failure condition, but not in the no-failure condition. Further analyses revealed that this Self-Consciousness X Small Failure interaction was attributable to the performance data of the low, but not the high self-esteem subjects. Experiment 2 was designed to replicate and extend these results. Subjects were pretreated with either a small amount of failure, an extended amount of failure, or no failure before working on the anagrams task. A significant Self-Esteem X Helplessness Training interaction emerged. Relative to the no-failure condition, in which the two self-esteem groups did not differ, low self-esteem participants (low SEs) performed marginally better than did high self-esteem individuals (high SEs) in the small-failure condition but significantly worse than high SEs in the extended-failure condition. The effect of private self-consciousness was considerably weaker in this study, possibly because the sample included few low SEs (who are especially influenced by self-focused attention) who were also relatively low in self-consciousness. Questionnaire data from Experiment 2 were consistent with the notion that enhanced performance reflected reactance, whereas impaired performance signified helplessness.     

The Effect of Clear Evaluation Criteria on Sex Bias in Judgments of Performance

Previous research indicates that the work of women is often devalued rela- tive to that of men. Two experiments tested the hypothesis that such sex bias appears when judges follow ambiguous guidelines or criteria in making evalua- tions, but not when they tollow clear evaluation guidelines. In each experiment, male and female undergraduates evaluated a performance that was attributed to either a man or woman (an intellectual test performance in Experiment I; an artistic craft object in Experiment 11). Subjects followed either clear, explicit evaluation criteria or vague, ambiguous criteria. As predicted, female subjects Lyaluated the "female's" performance less favorably than the "male's" only when. criteria were vague. In contast, male subjects showed little evidence of sex bias, regardless of the criteria they followed. Discussion centers upon: (1) possible cognitive processes underlying the observed effects of clear criteria; and (2) potential practical applications designed to alleviate sex bias in naturalistic settings.     

Energetic and motor responses to increasing force requirements

The effects of increasing work (force) requirements on energy expenditure and response topography were examined in 7 rats pressing a beam to earn food. For the 1st 16 days, the force requirement was 5.52 x 10(-2) N (5.625 g). This increased by 4.91 x 10(-2) N (5 g) every 7th session until Ss had experienced 10 upward shifts. Following the 54.57 x 10(-2) N (55.625 g) condition, the original criterion was reinstated. During the augmented phase. Ss maintained stable reinforcement rates across conditions by increasing the peak force of beam pressing. These higher forces, occurring within 20 reinforcements of changing the force criterion, were produced primarily by increases in the rate of change of force (delta F/delta T). Also, while the rate of work performed on the beam increased, the overall energy expenditure fell. In contrast to these rapid adjustments, reinstating the original 5.52 x 10(-2) N (5.625 g) criterion resulted in only gradual alterations in motor performance.     

Birth order and personality: Some empirical findings and a biobehavioral theory

The birth-order variables assessed included sex and number of siblings, assignment to 2- or 3-child family for separate sample analysis, family position as appropriate to given sample, spacing effect—was the birth of the second child spaced 4 years or more after the first child—dominance relationships in the family, sex of nearest siblings, sex of other siblings as appropriate, whether raised by both original parents, whether raised by foster parent(s). The personality variables assessed included sociability, anxiety, dominance, superego, phlegmatic temperament, involvement, self-regard and other scales measured by the new Howarth Personality Questionnaire. Samples of 50 for the 2-child families and 58 for the 3-child families were analyzed and it was found that: (a) in the 2-child families eldest children were less cooperative than younger, that those reporting dominance by another sibling were higher in state anxiety and this also applied to the younger of the pair, that those spaced in birth order were less afraid of being socially unacceptable, that those raised by both parents were higher in involvement; (b) in the 3-child families those dominated by a sibling, regardless of position, had more hypochondriac symptoms (a sign of anxiety), and that those spaced in birth order showed less cooperativeness. A biobehavioral theory to encompass biological-hormonal spacing effects and dominance as well as other intrafamilial behaviors was proposed.     

Factor analytic examination of Kline's scales for psychoanalytic concepts

Seventeen personality scales were administered to 133 subjects to investigate the relation of three new psychoanalytically-derived scales to the personality scales of Howarth and Eysenck, respectively. A previous study (Howarth, 1980a) suggested that Kline's oral optimism scale related to Eysenck's extraversion scale, oral pessimism to neuroticism, and Kline's anal syndrome scale to Eysenck's psychoticism scale. In order to investigate this further Eysenck's scales were included as well as ten scales of Howarth's and Kline's three scales. The factors found among the 17 variables were: I. Anxiety; II. Psychoticism; III. Sociability; IV. Anality; V. Lie scale; VI. Conscience.The present study found that the anal scale was relatively independent of all of Eysenck's ‘superfactor’ scales and did not verify the possibility that this anal scale might relate to psychoticism (as measured by Eysenck). However, the present study verified the previously found relation between oral optimism and extraversion and, of the three Kline scales, oral pessimism related more to psychoticism than the anal syndrome scale.     

Behaviors associated with “good” and “poor” outcomes in a simulated career decision

What career decision-making procedures enable people to make decisions that yield consequences congruent with their own values? The 40 “best” (most congruent) and 40 “worst” decision makers on the Career Decision Simulation were compared in a sample of 148 community college students. No significant differences appeared in the amount of double checking, number of occupations and information sources checked, amount of information collected, decision time required, and the proportion of information sought about high values. The “best” decision makers, however, were significantly more persistent in immediately seeking more information about an occupation that seemed to match one of their most important personal work values. Following a values-guided search appears more effective than simply searching exhaustively.     

Coactor's behavior and imitative aggression

After being exposed to either an aggressive or a nonaggressive filmed model, four- and five-year-old boys were tested for imitation while either alone or with a confederate who had also seen the film. The confederate's behavior was either inactive, the same as that in the film, the same as that in the film the child had not seen, novel but of the same category (aggressive or nonaggressive) as that in the film seen, or novel but in the category of the film not seen. These conditions conformed to the dimensions of a 2 × 6 factoral design. According to prediction, the imitation of subjects exposed to the aggressive model was greatest when the confederate's behavior was similar to the model's. No difference in imitation was produced by the confederate's actions if the boy had watched the nonaggressive model. The results were interpreted within the context of social comparison theory.This project was facilitated by the senior author's Margaret Bosshardt Pace and Paul David Pace Research Fellowship.