The Influence Of Effort Beliefs And The Behavior Self-Handicap

In recent years,the phenomena of "Tang-ping" and "bai-lan" have become hot topics in China.Many people are not satisfied with the status quo but are afraid of investing a lot of effort only to fail and damage their image,and thus use Self-Handicap as an excuse to protect their value.However,long-term Behavior Self-Handicap(BSH)is not conducive to personal development.Previous research has found that the belief in effort is negatively related to BSH,but the underlying psychological processes and the belief in effort in Chinese culture are yet to be explored.Therefore,this study investigates the relationship between the belief in effort,BSH,and their psychological processes in Chinese culture through three studies.In the preliminary study,the items for the two dimensions of effort beliefs,improvement-oriented belief about effort(IBE)and obligation-oriented belief about effort(OBE),were determined by revising the Effort Beliefs Scale developed by Taiwanese scholars.Each dimension included four items.Study 1 explored the developmental trajectory of the belief in effort and BSH by measuring 208 primary school students and299 middle school students.Study 2 investigated the relationship between belief in effort,BSH,and their mediating mechanisms by measuring of the IBE,OBE,BSH,Indebtedness,and Mastery Goal Orientation Scale to 304 middle school students.Study 3 manipulated the belief in effort and investigated its effects on BSH through experiments.Fistly,151 participants were assigned to the effort belief induction condition(progression group,obligation group),neutral induction condition,and differences in effort beliefs level among these groups were studied.In the formal experiment,A total of 195 were randomly assigned to the belief in effort promotion group(progress-oriented or obligation-oriented),belief in effort lack group,and the neutral material group to investigate the differences in their levels of belief in effort and BSH.The results showed that(1)although there were no significant differences in every grade level,the overall trend of the IBE was gradually declining,while the trend of the OBE view fluctuated,with a significant declined in the second year of junior high school.The developmental trend of behavioral self-handicapping was consistent with the trend of the OBE,with a significant upward trend in the second year of junior high school.In addition,there was no correlation between belief in effort and BSH in primary school,but there was a significant negative correlation in middle school;(2)both the IBE and OBE can positively predict individual behavioral self-handicapping,and can reduce the degree of the behavioral self-handicapping through the independent mediation of Mastery Goal Orientation and the chain mediation of the positive enhancement effect of Mastery Goal Orientation through Indebtedness;(3)The belief in effort negatively predicted BSH,and when the IBE and OBE decreased,the degree of recognition of behavioral selfhandicapping significantly increased.In conclusion,the belief in effort among Chinese students is generally high and has developmental trends,and the higher one’s level of effort belief,the more they experience indebtedness emotions towards important others,the more they hold onto their Mastery Goal Orientation,and the less they engage in BSH.Thus,the belief in effort in Chinese culture has a positive effect on reducing BSH.Educators should pay attention to the belief in effort among students and provide support to promote its positive influence on personal development.