What Is Self-Handicapping in Psychology?

Self-handicapping involves engaging in behaviors that sabotage your chances of success. Why would people do things that might make them more likely to fail? We all want to feel good about ourselves, but researchers have found that we hurt our chances of success to avoid taking responsibility for our failures.

For example, students might stay out all night to avoid studying when faced with an important exam. Then when they do poorly, they can blame their poor scores on their friends for keeping them out late rather than their own lack of intelligence.

Why Do People Self-Handicap?

We all have a strong need to blame our failures on outside forces while taking personal credit for our successes. This behavior protects our self-esteem but can also make us do things that make us less likely to succeed.

This tendency is known as self-handicapping, a self-sabotaging action or choice that prevents people from taking personal responsibility for outcomes. Essentially, people create obstacles so that any possible failures can then be blamed on these outside forces.

If we fail because of our lack of skill or preparation, it can hurt our self-confidence and create discomfort. After all, it hurts to look at our failures and realize that we have only ourselves to blame.

We are more likely to self-handicap when our self-concept is threatened, and we feel unsure about our ability to succeed.

The fear of success may also contribute to self-handicapping. While we often think of success in favorable terms, there are reasons people might fear the potential consequences of being successful. This can be caused by feeling like a fraud (known as imposter syndrome), social anxiety, or worries about potential backlash.

Examples of Self-Handicapping

There are many different forms of self-handicapping. Sometimes this behavior can be fairly innocuous, but in some instances, it can be much more serious. In some cases, it might even drive people to engage in potentially dangerous behavior.

Some examples of self-handicapping in psychology include:

• Procrastination: For example, students might procrastinate on their homework or put off studying until the very last minute. Athletes might skip practice or stay up late the night before a big game.
• Substance use: In some cases, people might engage in more dangerous forms of self-handicapping, such as abusing drugs and alcohol. If they perform poorly or fail, people can blame their poor performance on being intoxicated or hungover rather than their own abilities.
• Overcommitting: Taking on too much responsibility can also be a form of self-handicapping. When we take on too much, we tend to perform more poorly on everything. That way, we can blame our poor work on being overwhelmed and stressed.
• Self-sabotaging our relationships: Sometimes, we might create conflict or withdraw from relationships to protect ourselves from abandonment or rejection.
• Self-fulfilling prophecies: Sometimes, we make pessimistic predictions about how we will perform on a task and then engage in behaviors that ensure the prediction comes true. For example, a person might predict they will do poorly on a test and then not study. Their subsequent failure then acts as "proof" that their prediction was correct.
• Making excuses: Sometimes, we make excuses for our own failure early on. The goal of these excuses is to detach the potential for failure from our own abilities.

The Self-Serving Bias and Self-Handicapping

Researchers have suggested that self-handicapping can be linked to what is known as the self-serving bias, in which people claim personal credit for success but blame outside forces for their failures.

Imagine, for example, that you have been preparing to compete in your very first marathon. You've been following a training schedule and eating a healthy diet, but as race day approaches, you are doubting your ability to finish.

In the weeks and days leading up to the big race, you skip training sessions and binge eat junk food. You feel sluggish when the day finally arrives to compete in the marathon. As a result of these self-handicapping behaviors, you can blame your inability to finish the race on being out of shape or bloated rather than your possible lack of ability.

Classic Research on Self-Handicapping

The phenomenon was first described by researchers Stephen Berglas and Edward Jones in a 1978 study that involved randomly assigning students to complete anagrams, some of which were solvable and some were not.

Afterward, all of the students were told they had done well. This feedback was clearly unsettling and confusing to the participants who had been given the unsolvable anagrams. They were told they had done well but had no idea how or why they had. The volunteers were then asked if they wanted to take a performance-enhancing or performance-inhibiting drug before taking another test.

Why would some choose a drug designed to impair their performance on a test? These results suggest that when people are confident in their abilities to perform a task, they prefer to be given something that would help them perform even better.

However, people unsure of their abilities are more likely to want the drug that will hurt their performance, thus giving them an external source to blame for their possible failures.

What Are the Effects of Self-Handicapping?

The purpose of all this self-sabotage is to protect the ego and self-esteem. While this may work in the short term, sabotaging yourself can reduce self-esteem over the long term.

Unfortunately, self-handicapping has many adverse consequences.

• If you are placing barriers to success in your path, there is no way that you are giving yourself all the chances you should to achieve your goals.
• Not only that, by hindering your chances, you are essentially lowering your expectations for yourself both now and in the future.
• Self-handicapping can lead to lower motivation and less incentive to try to succeed in the future.

In a series of experiments, researchers manipulated participants' scores on IQ tests. Some participants were given the choice to either prepare for the test or join a "no practice" group.

Those who then received bad scores were more likely to blame their lack of practice, but subsequent research also found that people who had an excuse for their low scores (i.e., distractions, lack of preparation, etc.) were less motivated to prepare for a future test than those who didn't have an external source to blame.

Self-handicapping allows people to feel that they did okay despite the obstacles (even though those obstacles are self-created). The result is that people have no drive to do better.

Other Adverse Effects

More negative consequences of self-handicapping:

• Students who engage in self-handicapping report spending less time each week studying.
• Self-handicappers also tend to have lower grades overall.
• They are also more likely to use alcohol before engaging in a task.
• It also hurts social relationships. Self-handicappers always seem to have an excuse, so they are often viewed as "whiners." Researchers have found that self-handicappers are rated more negatively by their peers.

How to Overcome Self-Handicapping

Self-handicapping can protect the ego, but it comes with significant costs. Placing obstacles to success might provide excuses for failures, but it also makes us more likely to fail. Do you sabotage yourself so you can keep feeling good about yourself? Or do you give it your all and risk failure?

The research suggests that while your self-esteem might take a temporary hit, giving up self-handicapping behaviors might be better for future success. If you tend to place obstacles in the path of your success, a few strategies might help.

• Develop a growth mindset: Researchers have found that promoting a growth mindset, or the belief that you can improve your abilities, can reduce self-handicapping behaviors. Try to shift your perspective to focus on how you can learn more and develop new skills.
• Build self-efficacy: Research has found that when people feel more confident about their ability to perform (known as self-efficacy), they are less likely to rely on self-handicapping. Look for ways to become a more effective problem solver by analyzing problems carefully, collecting information, consulting multiple sources, and brainstorming possible solutions.
• Build self-esteem: If you feel confident in your abilities, you are less likely to feel the need to handicap yourself to protect your own ego. Saying positive things about yourself, treating yourself with kindness, and challenging negative thoughts positively influence your self-esteem.

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