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The downside of feeling better: Self-regard repair harms performance
- DOI:
- 10.1080/15298860701438414
pages 262-277
Available online: 12 Jun 2008Abstract
While threats to self-regard are unpleasant and aversive, such threats can also be motivating, leading people to change their views of themselves, and their behavior. The current studies show that when individuals experience a threat to self-regard through upward social comparison, learning about an opportunity to demonstrate competency can be affirming, leading to restored self-regard. However, self-regard is repaired only when the new task is in a domain different from the threatened domain (Study 1), and only when that new task is diagnostic of an important ability (Study 2). Study 3 examines the behavioral outcomes associated with threat, demonstrating the positive impact of threat on performance on these new tasks; ironically, when threat—the motivating force behind improved performance—is reduced, performance suffers.
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- Citation information:
- Available online: 12 Jun 2008
Author affiliations
- a Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA
- b Harvard Business School, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
- c Rady School of Management, University of California, San Diego, California, USA
- d Tilburg University, Tilburg, The Netherlands
- e Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, USA
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- Impact Factor 1.061 (2011 Thomson Reuters, 2010 Journal Citation Reports)
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