Selective attention to the self: Situational and dispositional determinants

Developed a paradigm to investigate the influence of success and failure experiences on subsequent selective attention to information about the self. 60 undergraduates were assigned to success, failure, or control experiences on an achievement task ostensibly testing intellectual ability. 30 Ss expected further testing, and 30 did not. Immediately after the achievement task, Ss were given positive and negative personality information about themselves as well as information about the task. Ss could choose to attend, or not attend, to any of the information in any order for 10 min. Successful Ss attended more to their personality assets, and less to liabilities, than did Ss who failed or had a control experience. The latter 2 groups did not differ. These effects were strongest when there was no expectancy for further testing. The theoretical bases for the effects of positive experiences (e.g., success) on subsequent self-regulatory patterns are discussed. Main effects and interactions with individual differences on the Repression-Sensitization Scale indicate that sensitizers were more likely to attend to their liabilities and repressors to their assets. These effects of individual differences were strongest in control conditions and were nullified when treatment effects were powerful, in accord with theoretical expectations. (31 ref.)