COMPETITIVENESS AND MOTIVATION FOR EDUCATION IN SELF-HANDICAPPING

The existing research of self-handicapping has explored only the role of interpersonal competition. The goal of the present research of self-handicapping was to determine a) the role of attitudes toward competition and b) the role of the different motives for participation in or avoidance of competition. The authors also examined the role of different types of motivation for education in self-handicapping, according to the level of self-determination. The participants were 748 high school students. The results from a correlation and comparative research, including multiple regression and discriminate analysis, showed that in self-handicapping different dimensions of competitiveness play different roles. Those denoted by fear of failure proved to be more characteristic of self-handicapping than those depicted by the high importance of the quality of task accomplishment. Regarding motivation for education, the prevailing role of amotivation stood out. Intrinsic motivation predicted self-handicapping negatively, while extrinsic motivation proved to be a positive predictor. Factor analysis of the measuring instrument enabled the differentiation of the reasons for education in self-handicapping on the level of three basic types.