Self-Esteem and Rational Self-Handicapping
In order to protect their self-esteem, agents may create or seek out performance-inhibiting obstacles to avoid negative feedback about their ability. This behavior allows agents to attribute failures to self-imposed obstacles rather than to a lack of competence. Psychologists refer to this phenomenon as self-handicapping. In this paper, I model rational agents with preferences for self-esteem. This allows me to provide sufficient conditions under which these self-esteem concerned agents engage in rational self-handicapping behavior. I then consider the effects of self-esteem concerned agents in two policy relevant applications: education and tournaments. In education, designing an exam with noisier questions results in more studying by self-handicappers without discouraging other students. In tournaments, policies aimed at encouraging a particular group to show up to job interviews can result in strategic adjustment by the targeted group leading to their lower overall attendance
Year of publication: |
[2023]
|
---|---|
Authors: | Mannahan, Rachel |
Publisher: |
[S.l.] : SSRN |
Subject: | Rationalität | Rationality | Spieltheorie | Game theory |
Saved in:
freely available
Saved in favorites
Similar items by subject
-
Damme, Eric E. C. van, (2014)
-
Game theory and cold war rationality : a review essay
Weintraub, Eliot Roy, (2016)
-
An agent-based model of rational optimism
Gutiérrez Diez, Pedro José, (2018)
- More ...
Similar items by person
-
The Abilene Paradox : The Curse of Caring Too Much
Flores, Lia, (2023)
- More ...