8/9/2019 Defensive Entitlement - early research ideas Fall
2004
1/2
Budzek 9/13/04
Defensive Entitlement?
Freuds concept of defensive entitlement: The failure to achieve
desired interactions with others (based on being an emotional
extension of the parent as a child) can result in omnipotent
solutions likeentitlement.
My concept of defensive entitlement: Result of high positive
academic self concept + high fear of failure/motive to avoid
failure + additional unknowns? Is similar to imposter phenomenon in
that itremoves the self from responsibility for success. People
experiencing the imposter phenomenon areunable to internalize
success because they worked very hard. Possibly, defensive
entitlement is a self-handicapping strategy (neurotic defense?)
used by people high in Sense of Entitlement ? Their self esteem is
not boosted by academic successes, since they do not feel as if
they worked for it / earned it.
Theorizing?
An academic self concept that is valued (vs devalued) sets the
stage for success or neurotic defenses.
Neurotic defenses are all the constructs of interest: defensive
pessimism, self-handicapping,imposter phenomenon, sense of
entitlement, etc. Protecting against cognitive dissonance that
may
arise from placing great importance on academic success and
being presented with the possibilityof failure.
These neurotic defenses co-occur with (1) unstable (high or low)
self-esteem and/or (2) academiccontingencies of self-worth.
Often co-occurring are: Neuroticism, Fear of Failure (measured
as Motive to Avoid Failure,Procrastination-FoF, Debilitating
Anxiety, or Performance-Avoidance), Self-doubt,
Self-consciousness.
What are the roles of these variables?
In an academic context, what about cognitive styles?
Perfectionism, conscientiousness?
What feedback do self-handicappers (people with neurotic
defensiveness) prefer? (enhancing, verifying,accuracy?)
How do overconfidence and defensive entitlement differ from the
imposter phenomenon and defensive pessimism? Do these all fall
under the umbrella of self-handicapping (which I am arbitrarily
callingneurotic defenses?)
Differences between overconfidence and entitlement = ?- Belief
in ability?- Locus of control / attribution biases ?- Effort?-
Problem: lack of popular measures for these two constructs
Differences between imposter phenomenon and defensive
pessimism:
- Imposter Phenomenon not related to concern with performance,
Defensive Pessimism isnegatively correlated.
- Concern with Performance construct seems/sounds confusing
performance matters a lot to peopleusing neurotic defenses (the
reason they are employing these strategies at all!) but they are
willingto sacrifice performance to save face (self-esteem). Since
public self-consciousness is positivelycorrelated with
self-handicapping (as opposed to private self-consciousness, which
is unrelated),questions remain about social comparison motives
regarding academic success and failure.
8/9/2019 Defensive Entitlement - early research ideas Fall
2004
2/2
Budzek 9/13/04
More scales
Social Attitudes Survey
Created by Hubner, Prasad, and Wong, 1995.
5 parts: self centered entitlement, E to violate laws, E to
special human rights, E to a high standard of living, E to pay less
tax.
Performance Failure Appraisal Inventory - Conroy et al.
See attached; previous meeting notes.
Psychological Entitlement Scale
See attached.
PES, 9-item scale rated from 1 to 7 measuring entitlement as an
intrapsychically pervasive construct,not just in a specific context
or resulting from specific actions.
Of interest: Scale is correlated at .16 with Neuroticism, and at
-.19 with Agreeableness. Males reported aslightly higher level of
entitlement Maybe the difference is in SRO, not gender (i.e. more
agentic
persons of either gender are more likely to have a high sense of
entitlement). Used a number of differentexperimental procedures to
approximate entitlement and examine different settings and
constructs.
Campbell, W. K., Bonacci, A. M., Shelton, J., Exline, J. J.,
& Bushman, B. J. (2004). Psychologicalentitlement:
Interpersonal consequences and validation of a self-report measure.
Journal of Personality
Assessment, 83, 29-45.
I honestly feel Im just more deserving than others.
Great things should come to me.
If I were on the Titanic, I would deserve to be on the first
lifeboat!
I demand the best because Im worth it.
I do not necessarily deserve special treatment.
I deserve more things in my life.
People like me deserve an extra break now and then.
Things should go my way.
I feel entitled to more of everything.
