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Own Ability in Relation to Self-Concept of Ability

A Field Study of Information-Seeking

Universitaet Bielefeld, West Germany

Eberhard Starke

Bochum, West Germany

A field study was conducted to examine whether individuals high and low in self-concept of ability differ in the extent to which they seek information about their own ability. Subjects were given both an intelligence test and a nonachievement task. Under the pretense of helping the experimenter, subjects were then asked to score one of the two tasks. Those who scored the intelligence test could directly compare their level of ability with social norms. The data showed that most subjects high in self-concept of ability chose the intelligence test to score, while most subjects low in self-concept of ability selected the nonachievement task. The results of this study contradict the findings of previous studies employing mostly hypothetical choice situations, which report no differences in information-seeking related to self-perception of ability.

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