RECONCILING COMPETING MOTIVES IN SELF-EVALUATION - THE ROLE OF SELF-CONTROL IN FEEDBACK SEEKING

On the basis of the assumption that positive experiences enhance perce ived ability to cope with the discomfort associated with negative perf ormance feedback (NF), it was hypothesized that (a) positive experienc es increase willingness to accept negative but useful feedback and tha t (b) individuals seek positive experiences before accepting NF. Exper iment 1 found that past success increased Ss' interest in unrelated NF . Experiment 2 found that positive mood increased Ss' interest in NF. Experiment 3 investigated the amount of time Ss spent reading about th eir past success while waiting for new feedback. When the new feedback was mandatory, the time Ss spent reading about their past success inc reased with the anticipated negativity of the new feedback. However, w hen the new feedback was optional, the time Ss spent reading about the ir past success was an inverted-U function of the anticipated negativi ty of the new feedback. Results are discussed in terms of self-control processes.