Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Psychology

Program Name/Specialization

Social Psychology

Faculty/School

Faculty of Science

First Advisor

Roger Buehler

Advisor Role

Provided guidance and feedback on all parts of thesis, served on thesis committee

Second Advisor

Anne Wilson

Advisor Role

Provided guidance and feedback on all parts of thesis, served on thesis committee

Abstract

Following a disappointing past event, how do people maintain motivation and hope for the future? Temporal Self-Appraisal Theory posits that in the face of past disappointing events, people will perceive these events as feeling far away in time to protect the current self-concept. In line with this theory, we reasoned that people who perceive past failures as further away and thus less relevant may maintain a more positive outlook. In Study 1 (N = 410), students reported their final grade in a previous psychology course, predicted their final grade in an ongoing course, and rated their hope and motivation to succeed. They also rated the perceived distance and perceived relevance of the past course, and perceived control over future grades. Students viewed lower past grades as more distant and less relevant than higher grades. Although our prediction about the role of subjective distance on future expectations was not supported, those who judged their poor past grades as less relevant had higher expectations (i.e., predicted grades, hope, and motivation). Also, people who reported higher perceived control had higher future expectations. In Study 2 (N = 622), we manipulated both perceived relevance and perceived control to examine their causal role. There was not a significant effect of the perceived relevance and perceived control manipulations on future expectations, but we again found correlational evidence that suggests that perceived relevance and perceived control play a role in future expectations. Finally, in Study 3 (N = 849), we replicated Study 1 and collected participants’ final grades in their second psychology course. The results provided a preregistered replication of the findings in Study 1, revealing that perceived relevance moderated the relationship between past grade and future expectations and that perceived control generally predicted more optimistic future expectations. We also found that participants systematically overestimated their final grades. Additionally, perceived relevance moderated the relationship between past grades and final grades, showing that those who thought of their poor PS101 grades as less relevant not only predicted higher PS102 grades but also received higher PS102 grades. Additionally, perceived control moderated the relationship between past grades and optimistic bias, revealing that people with poor past grades who reported high perceived control of their success in PS102 showed more optimistic bias than those who reported low perceived control. We discuss whether reflecting on the past in this manner promotes adaptive learning or merely fosters unfounded hope.

Convocation Year

2024

Convocation Season

Fall

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