Erber J T, Prager I G
Department of Psychology, College of Arts & Sciences, Florida International University, Miami 33199, USA.
Int J Aging Hum Dev. 2000;50(3):201-14. doi: 10.2190/XFJY-P3R6-7Y2X-FX3M.
Either before or after being interviewed for a volunteer position, a young or old protagonist (i.e., target) gave an excuse for forgetting. Study participants (i.e., perceivers) had a higher opinion of the target's memory, were more confident in the target's capability of performing memory-related tasks, and attributed the target's memory failures more to bad luck when the excuse was given after (damage-control strategy) rather than before (self-handicapping strategy) the interview. Moreover, the excuse given before the interview had no significant effect on perceivers' judgments when compared with data from an earlier study in which the target gave no excuse for forgetting. The present findings suggest that a damage-control strategy can ameliorate negative capability impressions.
在为志愿者职位接受面试之前或之后，一位年轻或年长的主角（即目标对象）给出了忘记的借口。研究参与者（即感知者）对目标对象的记忆力评价更高，对其执行与记忆相关任务的能力更有信心，并且当借口是在面试之后给出（损害控制策略）而非之前（自我设限策略）时，会将目标对象的记忆失误更多地归因于运气不好。此外，与早期一项目标对象没有为忘记给出借口的研究数据相比，面试前给出的借口对感知者的判断没有显著影响。目前的研究结果表明，损害控制策略可以改善负面的能力印象。
