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The effects of cognitive load on strategic self‐handicapping
Author(s) -
Silvera David H.
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
british journal of social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.855
H-Index - 98
eISSN - 2044-8309
pISSN - 0144-6665
DOI - 10.1348/014466600164336
Subject(s) - psychology , situational ethics , task (project management) , social psychology , cognition , attribution , cognitive psychology , simple (philosophy) , cognitive load , presentational and representational acting , philosophy , management , epistemology , neuroscience , economics , aesthetics
Past research has demonstrated that observers tend to underestimate the importance of situational determinants (e.g. task difficulty) of the performances of others. This tendency is particularly pronounced when observers are unmotivated, distracted or otherwise ‘cognitively busy’ while making attributional judgments. The objective of the present research was to determine whether a similar tendency exists when actors are given the opportunity to choose the tasks they will undertake in a self‐presentational situation. Sixty‐one participants were given a choice between a difficult and a simple task, with cognitive busyness being manipulated while this choice was being made. Cognitively busy participants were significantly more likely to choose the simple task than their non‐busy counterparts.