Self-evaluation of abilities: accurate self-assessment versus biased self-enhancement

Past research indicates that individuals are keenly aware of the diagnostic implications of their performance. Theories differ, however, in regard to how this awareness influences task choice. According to the self-assessment view, individuals choose tasks that are maximally informative of abilities, regardless of self-esteem implications. According to the self-enhancement view, task choice is often mediated by a concern for self-esteem protection. In the first study, subjects chose among eight forms of a cognitive abilities test that varied in their diagnosticity of success, diagnosticity of failure, and difficulty. In accordance with the self-assessment view, test choice was found to be positively related to diagnosticity of success and, to a lesser extent, diagnosticity of failure. Test choice was also dependent on the interaction of diagnosticity and difficulty in a manner that was more consistent with the self-assessment view. In a second study that provided more precise measurement of perceived diagnosticity and expected success, results indicated that the motives for self-assessment and self-enhancement were each reliably related to task preference. Of the two, self-assessment motivation was a stronger determinant of task preference. Taken together, these results suggest that task choice is governed largely by a concern for accurate self-appraisal. Additional results, however, indicate that current models may require revisions that take into account the less-than-accurate appraisal of diagnosticity.