A NONDEFENSIVE PERSONALITY - AUTONOMY AND CONTROL AS MODERATORS OF DEFENSIVE COPING AND SELF-HANDICAPPING

Previous work (Knee & Zuckerman, 1996) found that the combination of h igh autonomy and low control was associated with fewer self-enhancing attributions after success and fewer self-protective attributions afte r failure. The present research again found strong support for a syner gistic effect of causality orientations on defensive behavior through a prospective examination of defensive coping strategies (e.g., denial , behavioral disengagement, and mental disengagement) and self-handica pping tendencies. Individuals who were high in autonomy and low in con trol engaged in less defensive coping strategies (particularly denial) and exhibited less self-handicapping compared to ail other individual s. The present findings support the proposition that self-determined i ndividuals are less defensive in their behavior compared to others. Im plications for self-determination theory as well as the controversy ov er the relation between positive illusions and well-being are discusse d. (C) 1998 Academic Press.