Self-engagement as a predictor of performance and emotional reactions to performance outcomes

Three studies examined the relationship between engagement in different types of tasks, performance on those tasks, and reactions to performance outcomes. The three studies included voting in the 2004 presidential election, test performance in an undergraduate course, and completion of personal projects during the course of the semester. Engagement in voting predicted voting in the presidential election and magnified positive feelings of voting for the winning candidate. Test engagement predicted performance on the test, and magnified positive feelings of not showing a discrepancy between expected and actual test performance. Engagement in personal projects interacted with task complexity to predict project completion, with engagement being related to goal completion for tasks high in complexity. Project engagement also magnified the positive effects of a high probability of completing the project. The results provide support for task engagement as a predictor of performance and as a facilitator of positive feelings following success.