Self‐worth Protection: review and implications for the classroom

Abstract

The present article focuses on self‐worth protection and its prevention and modification in the classroom. This is a term given to voluntary self‐handicapping behaviours adopted by certain students in achievement situations which forebode failure and thereby, damage to self‐esteem. Withdrawal of effort, prevarication, low goal setting and last minute study are examples of such behaviours. While such behaviours protect a sense of self‐worth in the short term, the enduring consequence is underachievement. The genesis of the self‐handicapping behaviours of self‐worth protective students is traced to the effects of noncontingent feedback and to individual difference variables which render them particularly vulnerable to such effects. Strategies to enhance the achievement of self‐worth protective students thus take account of sources of noncontingent feedback in teachers’ use of evaluative feedback. Effective use of praise which is informational rather than directive of future performance, is advised. The importance of minimising uncertainty and situations of evaluative threat which give rise to self‐worth protection is stressed. Attribution retraining programs which encourage students to assume due credit for their successes are also recommended. By these means, self‐worth protective behaviours in the classroom may be forestalled.

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