Abstract

In two experiments, we manipulated the controllability and stability of causes of failure and explored the impact of these factors on self-efficacy and performance. In Experiment 1, participants (N=80; mean age 20.0 years, s=1.0) were provided with false negative feedback following performance on a blindfolded dart-throwing task. Consistent with theory and recent research, an induced belief that failure was beyond control and unlikely to change led to lower self-efficacy and poorer performance (all F1,75 > 5.49, all P < 0.05, all Z2=0.01). A second experiment (N=80; mean age 22.0 years, s=2.1) demonstrated that following an induced belief that failure was beyond control and unlikely to change, only new perceptions that a repeated failure was within one’s control and likely to change resulted in higher self-efficacy and improved performance (all F1,75 > 4.53, all P < 0.05, all Z2 > 0.004). All effects were mediated by self-efficacy: Sobel’s (1982) test, all z > 1.97 (in absolute magnitude), all P < 0.05, all r > 0.22 (in absolute magnitude). These findings suggest that in novel circumstances individuals believe in the best for themselves unless possibilities to self-enhance are explicitly precluded, and only reinvest efforts when opportunities for self-enhancement become clearly admissible. Verf.-Referat