Two studies tested a theory of how trait self-esteem moderates behavioral and cognitive persistence in the face of failure. Three primary hypotheses were examined. First, that high self-esteem (HSE) individuals persist more than low self-esteem (LSE) individuals when their initial attempts to reach a goal fail, but subsequent or repeated failures lead HSE individuals to reduce behavioral persistence and pursue goal alternatives more quickly than LSE individuals. Second, that when no goal alternatives are available, HSE individuals behaviorally persist more than LSE individuals. Third, despite reductions in behavioral persistence, LSE individuals do not "give up" on the failed goal but continue to persist cognitively, in the form of aversive ruminations about the failed goal. In a factorial experiment, persistence was examined as a function of self-esteem, degree of failure, and the availability of goal alternatives. As hypothesized, HSE participants behaviorally persisted more than LSE participants after a single failure, but less after repeated failure. However, selfesteem differences in behavioral persistence did not emerge when goal alternatives were unavailable. Partial support was received for the hypothesis that LSE individuals engage in more ruminative persistence than HSE individuals-LSE participants showed higher levels of ruminative persistence on one of two measures of ruminative persistence. The findings regarding behavioral persistence were conceptually replicated, and the hypothesis regarding ruminative persistence received stronger support, in a longitudinal field study in which HSE and LSE participants initially listed their goals and reported on their behavioral and ruminative persistence regarding these goals 5 months later. HSE participants exhibited better calibration between perceptions of goal failure and behavioral pursuit than LSE participants, indicating that increasing perceptions of goal failure were associated with reductions in behavioral pursuit more for HSE than LSE participants. Although they reduced behavioral pursuit relative to HSE participants, LSE participants continued to persist cognitively, by ruminating about their goals more than HSE participants. Discussion focuses on the need to revise traditional views of HSE individuals that emphasize their tenacious persistence and views of LSE individuals that emphasize their tendency to give up in the face of failure. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

有關在台階形的公共物品兩難(step-level public good dilemma)中集體失敗的心理影響的研究一直很少。本研究探討在集體失敗後反事實思維 (counterfactual thinking) 對群體成員情緒和隨後合作行為的影響。研究1確定了兩種會顯著增加失敗後合作行為的反事實思維：關注(1)個人的成果 或 (2) 群體的成果，並以自我為中心的向上反事實思維 (self-focused upward counterfactual thinking)。此外，內疚 (guilt)中介了反事實思維對合作行為的影響。我們在研究2中發現以自我為中心的向上反事實思維是否會增加或減少，取決於反事實思維中的結果導向(outcome orientation) 及其結構是否為加法式 (additive)，還是減法式(subtractive)。另外，內疚，不行動引起的後悔 (regret of inaction)和行動引起的後悔 (regret of action) 中介了這些反事實思維對合作行為的影響。我們的研究結果指出反事實思維和個別情緒在研究社會困境的重要性。 / Research on the psychological consequences of collective failure in step-level public good dilemmas has remained scant. The present research addressed how counterfactual thinking influenced group members’ emotions and subsequent cooperation after collective failure. In study 1, we identified two types of counterfactuals which significantly increased post-failure cooperation: self-focused upward counterfactuals that concerned about (1) personal outcome and (2) group outcome. Furthermore, guilt mediated the effects of counterfactual thinking on cooperation. In study 2, we demonstrated that self-focused counterfactuals predicted increase or decrease in cooperation, depending on its outcome orientation and structure (additive vs. subtractive). Guilt, regret of inaction and regret of action mediated these effects. Our findings pointed to the need of studying counterfactual thinking and specific emotions in social dilemma. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Yam, Pak Chun. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2012. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 41-49). / Abstracts also in Chinese. / Abstract --- p.4 / Chinese Abstract (摘要) --- p.5 / Introduction --- p.6 / Counterfactual thinking in social dilemma --- p.9 / Counterfactual thinking and emotion --- p.11 / “Feeling-is-for-doing“ approach of emotions in social dilemma --- p.13 / Counterfactual thinking, emotions and cooperation --- p.14 / Overview --- p.17 / Study 1 --- p.17 / Method --- p.18 / Results --- p.21 / Discussion --- p.25 / Study 2 --- p.26 / Method --- p.29 / Results --- p.30 / Discussion --- p.34 / Chapter General Discussion --- p.35 / Implications and Contributions --- p.37 / Limitations and future directions --- p.39 / Conclusion --- p.40 / References --- p.41 / Appendix1 --- p.50 / Measure of regret --- p.50 / Measure of guilt --- p.50 / Measure of anger --- p.50 / Appendix 2 --- p.51 / Counterfactual manipulations used in Study 2 --- p.51

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2006. / The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file viewed on (February 23, 2007) Includes bibliographical references.

Zugl.: Berlin Freie Univ., Diss., 2006. / Includes bibliographical references and index.

Failure haunts Mexico's historical imagination. Mexican intellectuals express a negative view of their country's history--especially vis-à-vis its nineteenth-century founding--and this negativity spills over into contemporary political and social discourse. To be sure, they have much to lament about the nineteenth century: multiple foreign invasions, rampant political instability and cronyism, excessive foreign debt, heavy-handed military leaders, and lest we forget, the loss of half the national territory. My dissertation analyzes narratives of failure in five historical novels, written between 1982 and 2005: Jorge Ibargüengoitia's Los pasos de López (1982), Rosa Beltrán's La corte de los ilusos (1995), Ignacio Solares' La invasión (2005), Fernando del Paso's Noticias del imperio (1987), and Enrique Serna's El seductor de la patria (1999). I define narratives of failure as discursive strategies that highlight--and often poeticize--perceived cultural, political, and social shortcomings. They are historical arguments that attempt to explain, justify, embellish, expose, or reinterpret contemporary problems as the atavistic result of prior shortcomings. They mediate between lofty aspirations and unsatisfied goals. They seek to ameliorate the psychological trauma resulting from loss. And despite apparent pessimism, these narratives tend to be fiercely nationalistic. It might be said that the transmission of failure narratives from one generation of intellectuals to the next has concretized their existence. Once in place, narratives of failure inform debates about nationhood, democracy, stability, and autonomy. Inertia propels these ideas forward. Despite the prevalence of these narratives in most genres, nowhere does failure manifest itself more clearly than in historical novels that recreate the nineteenth century. Furthermore these narratives are intimately tied up with the nation's guiding fictions. As authors employ narratives of failure, they reinterpret the nation's foundational moments. At times this serves to challenge official stories and dogmas or to liberate enduring symbols for reinterpretation. Narratives of failure challenge citizens to rethink their nation, their history, and themselves.

The present research examined the buffering effects of group interaction on emotional responses to both relative success and relative failure in developmentally relevant domains. In Study 1, 192 children and adolescents, in grade 4 and grade 10, from mixed-sex schools participated. In Study 2, 173 participants in grades four, five and ten were recruited from same-sex schools. Participants were given a questionnaire, consisting of schematic drawings of children and adolescents in interindividual and intergroup contexts, to assess their perceptions about how their typical same-sex peers feel when they are experiencing relative success or failure. Results indicated that both male and female participants at all grade levels, in both samples, judged their typical same-sex peers to feel better when experiencing relative success when they were a member of a group that was outperforming another group than when they were individually achieving greater success than another individual. In the sample consisting of participants from same-sex schools they also reported more positive feelings when experiencing relative failure in a group context than in individual interactions. Discussion centers on the implications for achievement and performance in educational contexts.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the combined effects of level of success and sex-typing on the attributional behavior of women. While several studies had previously investigated the effect of success level on attributional behavior, none had considered sex-type as a possible determinant. Subjects, whose sex typing was measured through use of the Bem Sex Role Inventory (Bem, 1974), were assigned to a success or failure condition manipulated through utilization of anagrams of various difficulty. In a second analysis, the possible effects of locus of control on attributional behavior was also investigated. Canonical and multiple regression analyses demonstrated that women in the success condition made stronger attributions to ability than did women who failed. This finding was partially supportive of the hypotheses being tested, and was contrary to generally held models of female attributional behavior.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2007. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (D. Min.)--Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, 2006. / Abstract and vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 165-170).

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1982. / Typescript. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 58-65).