Citation

Brown JD. J. Exp. Soc. Psychol. 1990; 26(2): 149-167.

Affiliation

University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

Copyright

(Copyright © 1990, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/0022-1031(90)90073-U

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Previous research has found that subjects eagerly seek information about their abilities. However, subjects' a priori beliefs regarding their ability generally have not been taken into account. Most people assume that their ability level is high and expect to succeed at achievement tasks. Consequently, the search for ability-relevant feedback may reffect a desire to gain favorable information about the self rather than, or in addition to, a desire to gain accurate information about the self. To explore this issue, the present research examined subjects' interest in evaluating their abilities after controlling for their anticipations of success. In four studies, the search for ability-relevant feedback was most evident when subjects had reason to believe that they would gain positive, rather than negative, information about the self. However, even those led to believe that feedback might disclose incompetence did not completely refrain from further information-seeking. These findings suggest that both self-enhancement and self-assessment motives affect the dynamics of ability evaluation. The discussion considers the implications of the findings for understanding the manner in which individuals acquire self-knowledge.