FORGOING PROACTIVE SELF-CONTROL: INACTIONS AND SELF-HANDICAPPING

Abstract

Self-handicapping is the process of preemptively creating an excuse to protect oneself from potential failure. Current conceptualizations of handicapping involve an action: individuals can claim a debilitating circumstance will affect their performance or engage in self-sabotaging behaviors that hurt performance. I present three studies examining whether individuals can also self-handicap by engaging in inactions. Although chronic self-handicappers are likely to engage in actions that hurt performance, I also propose they are less likely to engage in actions that help performance. Findings provided limited support for the predictions and imply that handicappers prefer unambiguous actions that can be clearly tied to future failure.