The effects of task relevance and closeness with another on future performance

The self-evaluation maintenance (SEM) model suggests that it is threatening to be outperformed in a task that is self-defining, and that this threat is greater when a close other outperforms oneself, as compared to a distant other. For the purpose of this paper, the person who observes the performan...

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Main Author: Ang, Bryna Shun Ying
Other Authors: School of Humanities and Social Sciences
Format: Final Year Project
Language:English
Published: 2012
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Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10356/49130
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Institution: Nanyang Technological University
Language: English
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spelling sg-ntu-dr.10356-491302019-12-10T14:41:39Z The effects of task relevance and closeness with another on future performance Ang, Bryna Shun Ying School of Humanities and Social Sciences Olwen Anna Bedford DRNTU::Humanities The self-evaluation maintenance (SEM) model suggests that it is threatening to be outperformed in a task that is self-defining, and that this threat is greater when a close other outperforms oneself, as compared to a distant other. For the purpose of this paper, the person who observes the performance of another person on a task will be referred to as the perceiver, while the person whom the perceiver is observing will be referred to as the target. The SEM model proposes that when the perceiver’s self-evaluation is threatened by the target’s better performance, the perceiver will be more likely to try harder in the next task in an effort to reduce the performance discrepancy. To test these hypotheses, participants engaged in two tests consisting of anagrams, with the latter containing two unsolvable anagrams (unbeknownst to the participants). Participants read that the tests were a measure of verbal creativity skills that was either validated (high relevance) or non-validated (low relevance). Participants were told they did badly in the first test and a second test was given. Persistence was measured as the amount of time the participants spent on the unsolvable anagrams. Results did not support our hypotheses. The explanations and implications are discussed. Bachelor of Arts 2012-05-15T03:29:54Z 2012-05-15T03:29:54Z 2012 2012 Final Year Project (FYP) http://hdl.handle.net/10356/49130 en Nanyang Technological University 59 p. application/pdf
institution Nanyang Technological University
building NTU Library
country Singapore
collection DR-NTU
language English
topic DRNTU::Humanities
spellingShingle DRNTU::Humanities
Ang, Bryna Shun Ying
The effects of task relevance and closeness with another on future performance
description The self-evaluation maintenance (SEM) model suggests that it is threatening to be outperformed in a task that is self-defining, and that this threat is greater when a close other outperforms oneself, as compared to a distant other. For the purpose of this paper, the person who observes the performance of another person on a task will be referred to as the perceiver, while the person whom the perceiver is observing will be referred to as the target. The SEM model proposes that when the perceiver’s self-evaluation is threatened by the target’s better performance, the perceiver will be more likely to try harder in the next task in an effort to reduce the performance discrepancy. To test these hypotheses, participants engaged in two tests consisting of anagrams, with the latter containing two unsolvable anagrams (unbeknownst to the participants). Participants read that the tests were a measure of verbal creativity skills that was either validated (high relevance) or non-validated (low relevance). Participants were told they did badly in the first test and a second test was given. Persistence was measured as the amount of time the participants spent on the unsolvable anagrams. Results did not support our hypotheses. The explanations and implications are discussed.
author2 School of Humanities and Social Sciences
author_facet School of Humanities and Social Sciences
Ang, Bryna Shun Ying
format Final Year Project
author Ang, Bryna Shun Ying
author_sort Ang, Bryna Shun Ying
title The effects of task relevance and closeness with another on future performance
title_short The effects of task relevance and closeness with another on future performance
title_full The effects of task relevance and closeness with another on future performance
title_fullStr The effects of task relevance and closeness with another on future performance
title_full_unstemmed The effects of task relevance and closeness with another on future performance
title_sort effects of task relevance and closeness with another on future performance
publishDate 2012
url http://hdl.handle.net/10356/49130
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