How chronic self-views influence (and mislead) self-assessments of task performance: self-views shape bottom-up experiences with the task.
Self-assessments of task performance can draw on both top-down sources of information (preconceived notions about one's ability at the task) and bottom-up cues (one's concrete experience with the task itself). Past research has suggested that top-down self-views can mislead performance evaluations but has yet to specify the exact psychological mechanisms that produce this influence. Across 4 experiments, the authors tested the hypothesis that self-views influence performance evaluations by first shaping perceptions of bottom-up experiences with the task, which in turn inform performance evaluations. Consistent with this hypothesis, a relevant top-down belief influenced performance estimates only when learned of before, but not after, completing a task (Study 1), and measures of bottom-up experience were found to mediate the link between top-down beliefs about one's abilities and performance evaluations (Studies 2-4). Furthermore, perception of an objectively definable bottom-up cue (i.e., time it takes to solve a problem) was better predicted by a relevant self-view than the actual passage of time.
Critcher
Clayton R
CR
Department of Psychology, Cornell University, 211 Uris Hall, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA. crc32@cornell.edu
Dunning
David
D
D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology; D003463:Cues; D004521:Educational Measurement / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D009518:New York; D010465:Perception / Q000502:physiology; D011340:Problem Solving / Q000502:physiology; D012649:Self Concept; D012647:Self-Assessment; D012938:Social Perception; D012984:Software; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D013997:Time Factors