| Description |
In this study, the effects of excuse making on the type of feedback received was investigated. Much of the current literature today suggests that people engage in excuse making with the expectations of positive results. The motivations suggested have been to preserve ones self image, increase the likelihood of positive feedback from an audience, and to disassociate ones self from negative performances. We contend however, that practicing excuse making may also result in an increased likelihood of negative feedback and negative performance evaluations from evaluators. In support of this position, our results showed that evaluators tended to evaluate performances more negatively and to give more negative feedback to subjects who presented low effort excuses, than to subjects who presented situational excuses or no excuses (control groups). consistent with previous studies, we also found that evaluators tended to give more negative evaluations if they believed their responses were confidential and anonymous and more positive evaluations when they were told they would be giving their feedback to the subject they were evaluating. |
