It’s the night before the big exam, and my body is not in the suitable mood to stare at notes and text in order to learn the answer to any question to be asked the next day. I know that I should, but studying isn’t extremely enjoyable, especially when up against a night out and a slight morning headache. Of course I go out. In the event that the test does not go as well as I hope, my night out will be my excuse for the result.
The next day’s test turns out to be satisfactorily completed (as usual), though I know I could have performed better. My rather eventful night did not become my excuse for an unsatisfactory grade, but rather a pathetic justification for not seeking to achieve my finest. To the benefit of myself, I don’t particularly
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Pettijohn (1998) defines self-handicapping as “a strategy that people use to prepare for failure; people behave in ways that produce obstacles to success so that when they do fail they can place the blame on the obstacle.” According to this theory of self-handicapping, I decided to spend the night out as opposed to studying in preparation for failure. In the event that I did fail, my excuse would have been the obstacle I had produced for myself the night …show more content…
Males have a higher rate of self-handicapping than females, due to higher drug and alcohol use in men. Women also tend to report physical symptoms more (Pillow, 2001). Several studies suggest that men feel they must appear competent in all territories, while women only worry about the skills in which they've deeply (Schrof, 1993). In a study by Bullock & Myers (2000) alcohol is a common subject of self-handicapping when related to safe sex. Because of the supposed and advertised effects of alcohol on the ability to think rationally, many men and women use their inebriation as an excuse for practicing unsafe sex. While the causes and processes of self-handicapping could continue endlessly, there is little future for the chronic excuse
As a chronic procrastinator myself I would have to say from experience that I do more often than not make a decision to procrastinate. When I procrastinate it is most times because I believe that I don’t need the time that I am given to get my work done, or simply that I don’t want to work on the project that day. In a paper written by a Serendip Student entitled “Procrastination: Habit or Disorder,” the author sheds light on the psychological view point of procrastination. The author breaks it up into two categories, behavioral procrastination and decisional procrastination. The author relates behavioral procrastination to self-handicap, meaning that those people use procrastination as an excuse to blame something for the reason that they did not pass that test. In this article, the author uses an experiment conducted by Ferrari and Tic, “participants (men and women) perform an identical task twice. In the first study, participants were notified that they would be evaluated on their performance of the task. Time was allotted for practice or engaging in fun activities. Results found that participants procrastinated for 60% of the time. The second study described the identical task as a fun game. Results of activity during the time allotted showed that procrastinators, in comparison
The descriptive claim made by Psychological Egoists is that humans, by nature, are motivated only by self-interest. Any act, no matter how altruistic it may seem on the outside is actually only a disguise for a selfish desire such as recognition, avoiding guilt, reward or sense of personal ‘goodness’ or morality. For example, Mother Teresa is just using the poor for her own long-term spiritual gain. Being a universal claim, it could falter with a single counterexample. And being that I believe this claim to be bunk I will tell you why!
I sit in a dim lit classroom with my classmates all around. I hear the teacher’s raspy voice say “One minute left to finish”. I am so terrified that I might fail. I can’t fail, I can’t go to the Thinning, my family needs me and I can’t leave Jake. I know he will probably be fine without me and move on with his life, but I still like to think that he would need me. I have one more question, I tell myself. Then I will be done and I don't have to worry about the test until next year. Jake also promised me that tonight we would go out to eat at my favorite restaurant, Louie's Cafe. They make the best cheesecake there. It is my favorite thing ever.
The purpose of Afraji Gill’s piece is to clear up the misconceptions of what society perceives success to be. Afraji Gill himself who achieved high grades throughout his high school education felt that his educators’ and societies’ definition of success was wrong. To Afraji Gill success was not high grades, receiving awards or scholarships and being on the honour roll. To him success was defined as how well you grasped the learning material and knew how to put it to use. That a grade on a piece of paper should not define your intelligence and your success. For there are people in the world who receive outstanding grades because they happened to memorize the materials for their test, but as soon as the test is over they have not properly grasped the material and knowledge covered, to put into practical use. I think that Afraji Gill’s article’s purpose is to make people aware that you should not base a person’s success on their grades but on rather how well they know the material, and that failure should not be looked upon as being unsuccessful, but instead should be acknowledged as a stepping stone in becoming
It is common in individuals that when something goes wrong or right, people habitually mull over how an outcome could have been altered if they acted otherwise. Such notions are also known as counterfactual thinking (Mandel & Lehman, 1996). These thoughts encompasses visualising options of various aspects of a supposed event. They are restrictive and emphasizes on actions that did not take place, coupled with the hinging of “if-then” where “if” denotes a particular act and “then” indicates a goal (Smallman & Roese, 2009). Past researchers tend to focus more on the formulation of counterfactual thoughts. An underexplored area of how self-esteem influences counterfactual thoughts and behavioural intention serves as a basis for further investigation.
That’s all crap,’ he said, knocking the books across the floor. ‘You’ll only fail your exam and they don’t want failures, spoiling their bloody numbers. They’ll ask you to leave, see if they don’t’” (118).
I must also acknowledge my role in my transcript’s substandard showing. As my SAT and ACT scores indicate, I have the potential to achieve success in any field chosen. However, I have procrastinated and failed to apply myself to my studies. This year I have made and earnest effort to improve my work ethic. My grade point average is rising and my study habits are improving. I know that I can continue with this improvement.
I would like to say that I sit down at my desk overlooking the neighborhood, three weeks before the due date, with a freshly brewed cup of green tea, after just having woken up not to an alarm, but to my body’s own internal clock. I would like to say all of this was true. Unfortunately, my life is not that glamours. Even as I write this it is the night before the due date and we’re just about to hit 8:30 pm. I hold a strict 9 pm bed time. The truth is, the stress of the night before excites me. Whenever I receive an assignment, I have every intention to get a head start. In my near fifteen years of education, this has never once actually happened. Creatures of habit, we are. So this is where it all begins. The night, sometimes the day, before a due date with knots in my stomach and without a thought in my
Defense mechanism are a critical part of ego psychology. Used as a way to make reality a little less frightening, defense mechanism can be moderately adaptive, or damaging (Day, 2008). In order to...
One of the most stressful aspects of high school and ultimately college is the ability (or lack thereof) to form good study habits. One may often hear the dramatic tale of a college student staying up all night in order to receive a good grade on his or her test the following morning. This student either completely fails the test, or does really well. These results depend on the students themselves and their ability to study in this manner. In this essay, I will compare and contrast fellow two of the most popular forms of studying—periodic and cramming—in an effort to allow high school students to effectively choose which form may best work for them.
Many of us have thought our success comes from long hours of stress, and pulling “all-nighters” to attain the grades we all hope and desire to have. But what if there is a different way to achieve the grades you wanted and get all the hours of sleep you wanted. Cal Newport displays that perfectly, when writing his non-fiction book, How to Become a Straight-A Student. This essay will explore five techniques I can use during my daily life in high school and possibly when I am off to college.
People tend to compare themselves to others in present modern day. Comparison has no limits; they do not just compare their homes, their cars, their families, but also their intelligence. Sometimes questioning their own analogies and wondering why is it that they must compare and contrast? Truth is a large majority of humans cross-cultural all tend to compare each other. When comparing each other’s social intelligence and cognitive intelligence based on academic achievement professionals may find a distinction between social metric popularity a measure of acceptance and perceived popularity a measure of social dominance (Meijs, Cillessen, Scholte, Segers, & Spijkerman, 2010). The distinction between Sociometric popularity and perceived popularity was in a form of measurement that was generated by a perceived intelligence test. The experimental study had a total of 512 participants in which 56% were girls and 44% were boys between the ages of 14 and 15 years old. Although there was certain limitations to this study for example the possibility of not being able to determine if sociometric popularity and if it is influenced by academic achievement, or the other way round. The intention of the research, which was to compare students from different educational levels, proves that social comparison is common amongst today’s generation. The focus on this current experimental paper is on Social comparison theory based on an intelligence test.
Using defense mechanisms as a way of emotion-focused coping has advantages like being able to change reality to help ease stress that cannot be avoided. Sometimes defense mechanisms can get someone through a stressful time until they are able to use problem-focused coping. For example, a sudden pop quiz on a topic you didn’t study for is sprung on you in Spanish class and you are able to you defense mechanisms to calm yourself and therefore focus better on the quiz. On the other hand, defense mechanisms also have disadvantages, such as not being able to see clearly and distorting reality too much. This can lead to failure of making goals, procrastination, and the habit of creating excuses for not making progress on goals.
There are many explanations for the origins of modern social psychology. It is therefore important to consider that social psychology cannot be traced back to one single source of origin (Burr, 2003). Hence, this is the reason why there are debates of what social psychology is. Allport (1985) described social psychology as the study an individual’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviours which are influenced by the actual, imagines, or implied presence of others. As seen from this definition there is a direct link between social science and the individual psychology (Sewell, 1989). Social psychology cannot be seen as a linear phenomenon. This is because social psychology has been derived from a combination of influences. The development of social psychology can be discussed in two different ways. Firstly, social psychology is argued to be found upon political movements and social philosophies in the United Stated of America (US). Secondly, it can be argued that social psychology has developed in response to social and political needs.
Prejudice is an inexcusable attitude (usually harmful) towards an individual based solely on the individual’s membership of a social group. Victims of prejudice may have difficulty focusing on tasks and making clear decisions and this effect can linger after the incident. Psychotherapy may be helpful in treating the negative mental effects of someone who has been the victim of prejudice. Psychotherapy may also be beneficial for someone who has prejudged or discriminated against another.