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Motivation and future temporal orientation: a test of the self-handicapping hypothesis
1Department of Behaviourial Science, University of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Psychological Reports
|September 9, 1999
Summary
Future time perspective strongly predicts self-handicapping motivation in students. However, neither future time perspective nor self-handicapping motivation effectively predicted academic outcomes in this study.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Educational Psychology
Background:
- Self-handicapping motivation involves projecting ambition, making pessimistic judgments, and mobilizing present effort to avoid future negative outcomes.
- This motivation is theoretically linked to an individual's future time perspective.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between future time perspective and self-handicapping motivation.
- To determine if these variables predict academic outcomes in first-year students.
Main Methods:
- A sample of 120 first-year students participated in the study.
- Measures of future time perspective and self-handicapping motivation were administered.
Main Results:
- Future time perspective was found to be a strong predictor of self-handicapping motivation scores.
- Neither future time perspective nor self-handicapping motivation significantly predicted student outcomes.
Conclusions:
- A clear correlation exists between how students perceive their future and their tendency to self-handicap.
- Despite this correlation, self-handicapping and future time perspective do not appear to be reliable indicators of academic success.