Adler's psychology (of use) today: personal history of traumatic life events as a self-handicapping strategy.
We investigated the hypothesis that the reporting of a history of traumatic life events may serve as a strategy to control attributions about performance in an evaluative setting (i.e., self-handicapping). Following from Alfred Adler's early theorization in the psychology of use, as well as more recent theory and research on self-handicapping, we predicted that individuals would emphasize the adversity of events and experiences in their background when an uncertain evaluation was expected and when a traumatic background would serve as a suitable excuse for potential failure. Results generally supported the hypothesized self-protective reporting of traumatic life events.
D000124:Achievement; D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D003674:Defense Mechanisms; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008016:Life Change Events; D011581:Psychological Tests; D012649:Self Concept; D012718:Set, Psychology