TY - JOUR

T1 - Boon and bane of being sure

T2 - the effect of performance certainty and expectancy on task performance

AU - Schindler, Simon

AU - Reinhard, Marc André

AU - Dickhäuser, Oliver

PY - 2016/4/1

Y1 - 2016/4/1

N2 - Previous research has suggested certainty to be an important factor when investigating effects of level of expectancies on future behavior. With the present study, we addressed the interplay of expectancy certainty and level of expectancies regarding task performance. We assumed that certain performance expectancies provide a better basis for the regulation of persistence and, therefore, lead to improved performance when people expect to perform well. However, when people have bad performance expectations, being certain (compared to being uncertain) about this expectation decreases motivation to work hard on the task because it is assumed it will not pay off anyway. Accordingly, in our study, we found that the performance of participants with high performance expectancies increased with increasing expectancy certainty. By contrast, performance of participants with low performance expectancies decreased with increasing expectancy certainty. Additionally, certainty and expectancy were shown to be unrelated, supporting the idea that they are independent constructs.

AB - Previous research has suggested certainty to be an important factor when investigating effects of level of expectancies on future behavior. With the present study, we addressed the interplay of expectancy certainty and level of expectancies regarding task performance. We assumed that certain performance expectancies provide a better basis for the regulation of persistence and, therefore, lead to improved performance when people expect to perform well. However, when people have bad performance expectations, being certain (compared to being uncertain) about this expectation decreases motivation to work hard on the task because it is assumed it will not pay off anyway. Accordingly, in our study, we found that the performance of participants with high performance expectancies increased with increasing expectancy certainty. By contrast, performance of participants with low performance expectancies decreased with increasing expectancy certainty. Additionally, certainty and expectancy were shown to be unrelated, supporting the idea that they are independent constructs.

KW - Certainty

KW - Performance

KW - Performance expectancies

KW - Social cognition

KW - Psychology

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84961193234&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1007/s10212-015-0267-4

DO - 10.1007/s10212-015-0267-4

M3 - Journal articles

AN - SCOPUS:84961193234

VL - 31

SP - 245

EP - 253

JO - European Journal of Psychology of Education

JF - European Journal of Psychology of Education

SN - 0256-2928

IS - 2

ER -