DEFENSIVE PESSIMISM - HARNESSING ANXIETY AS MOTIVATION
DEFENSIVE PESSIMISM - HARNESSING ANXIETY AS MOTIVATION
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DOI：
10.1037/0022-3514.51.6.1208
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发表时间：
1986-12-01
影响因子：
7.6
通讯作者：
CANTOR, N
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
NOREM, JK;CANTOR, N
在本文中，我们讨论人们可能用来应对危险情况的策略，因为这些情况可能会导致失败和对自尊的潜在威胁。先前的研究表明，焦虑（Sarason，1980）和明确设定的低期望（Sherman，Skov，Hervitz，＆Stock，1981）可能会导致这些情况下的绩效缺陷。相反，实验 1 表明，采用防御性悲观主义策略（Norem & Cantor，1986），个体有时可能会使用较低的期望来应对焦虑，以免焦虑变得令人衰弱。第二个实验进一步支持了这样的论点，即低期望可能有助于个人应对风险情况，因为它表明干扰防御悲观策略会损害绩效。情境的战略构建未受到干扰的受试者并未表现出表现受损。这些数据被解释为证据，表明低期望和高焦虑对绩效的影响可能是通过个人在处理危险情况时使用的策略来调节的。
In this article we discuss the strategies that people may use to cope with situations that are risky in that they present the possibility for failure and potential threats to self-esteem. Previous research has indicated that anxiety (Sarason, 1980) and explicitly set low expectations (Sherman, Skov, Hervitz, & Stock, 1981) may lead to performance deficits in these situations. Experiment 1 indicates, in contrast, that with a strategy called defensive pessimism (Norem & Cantor, 1986), individuals may sometimes use low expectations to cope with their anxiety so that it does not become debilitating. A second experiment further supports the contention that low expectations may help individuals negotiate risky situations by showing that interference with the defensive-pessimism strategy impairs performance. Subjects whose strategic construction of the situation was not interfered with do not show impaired performance. These data are interpreted as evidence that the effects of low expectations and high anxiety on performance may be mediated by the strategies individuals use when approaching risky situations.