Self - Handicapping : Gender , Race , and Status

Self-handicapping behavior exhibits a robust gender effect: Men but not women consistently choose behavior that they believe will impair their performance, even when that performance is important to them. Because previous research shows self-handicapping to occur when esteem is threatened, we propose that high status individuals will be more likely to self-handicap than will those of lower status. An experiment tests this proposition. In the study, men selected more study time (and thus self-handicapped more) than did women. With gender controlled, non-European Americans self-handicapped less than did European Americans. The study provides tentative evidence for our proposition that status processes impact self-handicapping behavior.