Information Processing and the Perseverance of Discredited Self-Perceptions

The present study tested the hypothesis that perseverance of discredited self-perceptions after debriefing varies with subjects' opportunity to engage in causal explanation. Subjects were presented with false feedback indicating that they had either succeeded or failed at a novel discrimination task. Four information processing conditions varied subjects' opportunity to explain their outcomes to themselves. Subjects who, through distraction, were prevented from generating explanations showed no evidence of perseverance, while perseverance increased with increasing opportunity to engage in causal explanation.