Self-enhancing reactions to performance feedback in an academic setting

College students' affective and cognitive reactions to evaluate feedback and the role that their self-esteem played in these reactions were investigated in an academic setting. Seventy-two students completed a questionnaire containing a performance self-esteem scale and questions that assessed how they defined ''successful'' performance one week prior to a midterm exam. Participants' reactions were then assessed immediately after they were given the exam results. Both affective and cognitive reactions provided overwhelming support for the weak ''form of self-enhancement theory (Shrauger, 1975) and virtually no support for the self-consistency theory (Swann, Griffin, Predmore, & Gaines, 1987). Regardless of their self-esteem levels, students who performed successfully reported higher levels of positive affect, lower levels of negative affect, and were more satisfied with their performance than those who received failure feedback. These ''success'' students were also more likely to view the feedback as accurate, the exam as a good diagnostic tool, grades as a valid indicator of effort, and make internal attributions of their performances. Students' beliefs that grades reflected their ability was the only reaction that showed a greater self-enhancing tendency among the high self-esteem students.