Most students experience expectation violations during their academic career, such as unexpected failed tests. However, contradictory evidence does not always result in expectation change (accommodation). Expectations often persist through stronger efforts to fulfil the expectation (assimilation) or ignoring the discrepancy (immunisation). Our study addresses possible situational and dispositional predictors that may be decisive influences on the use of the three coping strategies. We conducted an experimental study with n = 439 students who experienced an expectation violation in an achievement test. Dispositional coping tendencies, valence of expectation violation, and the interaction of valence and degree of expectation violation were found to predict situational coping. Furthermore, higher need for cognitive closure predicted stronger accommodation, and a large degree of expectation violation predicted stronger immunisation. Thus, our study provides initial evidence on which situational and dispositional factors predict coping with expectation violations in an educational context. Expectation violation in a performance context mainly resulted in stronger efforts to protect positive achievement expectations.
AndrewM.HauserR. M. (2011). Adoption? Adaptation? Evaluating the formation of educational expectations. Social Forces, 90(2), 497–520.
2.
BaumeisterR. F. (1995). Self and identity: An introduction. In TesserA. (Ed.), Advanced social psychology (pp. 50–98). McGraw-Hill.
3.
BeierleinC.KovalevaA.KemperC. J.RammstedtB. (2012). ASKU—Allgemeine Selbstwirksamkeit Kurzskala (Fragebogen) [ASKU—General Self-Efficacy Short Scale (Questionnaire)]. Leibniz-Zentrum für Psychologische Information und Dokumentation (ZPID) (Hrsg.), Elektronisches Testarchiv (PSYNDEX Tests-Nr. 9006490). https://doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.418
4.
BrandtstädterJ. (2007). Das flexible Selbst: Selbstentwicklung zwischen Zielbindung und Ablösung [The flexible self: Self-development between goal engagement and disengagement]. Elsevier.
5.
BrandtstädterJ.GreveW. (1994). The aging self: Stabilizing and protective processes. Developmental Review, 14(1), 52–80. https://doi.org/10.1006/drev.1994.1003
6.
BrandtstädterJ.RothermundK. (2002). The life-course dynamics of goal pursuit and goal adjustment: A two-process framework. Developmental Review, 22(1), 117–150. https://doi.org/10.1006/drev.2001.0539
7.
BurgoonJ. K. (2016). Expectancy violations theory. In BergerC. R.RoloffM. E.WilsonS. R.DillardJ. P.CaughlinJ.SolomonD. (Eds.), International encyclopedia of interpersonal communication (pp. 1–9). Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118540190.wbeic102
8.
CarolanB. V. (2017). Assessing the adaptation of adolescents’ educational expectations: Variations by gender. Social Psychology of Education, 20(2), 237–257. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11218-017-9377-y
9.
CarverC. S.ScheierM. F.WeintraubJ. K. (1989). Assessing coping strategies: A theoretically based approach. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 56(2), 267–283. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.56.2.267
Connor-SmithJ. K.FlachsbartC. (2007). Relations between personality and coping: A meta-analysis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 93(6), 1080–1107. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.93.6.1080
12.
DeutschR.FazioR. H. (2008). How subtyping shapes perception: Predictable exceptions to the rule reduce attention to stereotype-associated dimensions. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 44(4), 1020–1034. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2008.03.001
13.
DijksterhuisA. P.Van KnippenbergA. D.KruglanskiA. W.SchaperC. (1996). Motivated social cognition: Need for closure effects on memory and judgment. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 32(3), 254–270. https://doi.org/10.1006/jesp.1996.0012
DominaT.ConleyA.FarkasG. (2011b). The link between educational expectations and effort in the college-for-all era. Sociology of Education, 84(2), 93–112. https://doi.org/10.1177/1941406411401808
16.
EcclesJ. S.VidaM. N.BraberB. (2004). The relation of early adolescents’ college plans and both academic ability and task-value beliefs to subsequent college enrolment. The Journal of Early Adolescence, 24(1), 63–77. https://doi.org/10.1177/0272431603260919
17.
EllerV. (2020). Dispositionelle Strategien zur Bewältigung von Erwartungsverletzungen: Validierung des ViolEx-Fragebogens [Dispositional Strategies for Coping with Expectation Violations: Validation of the ViolEx Questionnaire] [Unpublished diploma thesis, Philipps University of Marburg].
18.
FestingerL. (1957). A theory of cognitive dissonance. Stanford University Press.
19.
FilipowiczA.ValadaoD.AndersonB.DanckertJ. (2018). Rejecting outliers: Surprising changes do not always improve belief updating. Decision, 5(3), 165–176. https://doi.rg/10.1037/dec0000073
20.
GarrettN.SharotT. (2017). Optimistic update bias holds firm: Three tests of robustness following Shah et al. Consciousness and Cognition, 50, 12–22. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2016.10.013
21.
GeersA. L.LassiterG. D. (2002). Effects of affective expectations on affective experience: The moderating role of optimism-pessimism. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 28(8), 1026–1039. https://doi.org/10.1177/01461672022811002
22.
GlaesmerH.HoyerJ.KlotscheJ.HerzbergP. Y. (2008). Die deutsche Version des Life-Orientation-Tests (LOT-R) zum Dispositionellen Optimismus und Pessimismus [The German version of the Life-Orientation Test (LOT-R) on dispositional optimism and pessimism]. Zeitschrift für Gesundheitspsychologie, 16(1), 26–31. https://doi.org/10.1026/0943-8149.16.1.26
23.
GollwitzerM.ThorwartA.MeissnerK. (2018). Editorial: Psychological responses to violations of expectations. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, Article 2357. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.02357
24.
GreveW.WenturaD. (2003). Immunizing the self: Self-concept stabilization through reality-adaptive self-definitions. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 29(1), 39–50. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167202238370
25.
GreveW.ZimmermannS.MeyerT.AckermannJ.HellmersS.PielniokM. (2009). The development of self-stabilizing processes during adolescence-the sample case of self-immunization. Zeitschrift für Entwicklungspsychologie und Pädagogische Psychologie, 41(1), 26–32. https://doi.org/10.1026/0049-8637.41.1.26
26.
HallN. C.ChipperfieldJ. G.PerryR. P.RuthigJ. C.GoetzT. (2006). Primary and secondary control in academic development: Gender-specific implications for stress and health in college students. Anxiety, Stress, and Coping, 19(2), 189–210.
27.
HaratsisJ. M.HoodP. A.HoodM. (2015). Career goals in young adults: Personal resources, goal appraisals, attitudes, and goal management strategies. Journal of Career Development, 42(5), 431–445. https://doi.org/10.1177/0894845315572019
28.
HirdE. J.CharalambousC.El-DeredyW.JonesA. K.TalmiD. (2019). Boundary effects of expectation in human pain perception. Scientific Reports, 9, Article 9443. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-45811-x
29.
KemmelmeierM. (2015). The closed-mindedness that wasn’t: Need for structure and expectancy-inconsistent information. Frontiers in Psychology, 6, Article 896. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00896
30.
KornC. W.SharotT.WalterH.HeekerenH. R.DolanR. J. (2014). Depression is related to an absence of optimistically biased belief updating about future life events. Psychological Medicine, 44(3), 579–592. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291713001074
31.
KruglanskiA. W. (1989). The psychology of being “right”: The problem of accuracy in social perception and cognition. Psychological Bulletin, 106(3), 395–409. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.106.3.395
32.
KruglanskiA. W. (2013). The psychology of closed mindedness. Psychology Press.
33.
KruglanskiA. W.FreundT. (1983). The freezing and unfreezing of lay-inferences: Effects in impressional primacy, ethnic stereotyping, and numerical anchoring. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 19(5), 448–468. https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-1031(83)90022-7
34.
KubeT.GlombiewskiJ. A. (2020). How reappraisal of new information contributes to optimistic belief updating. https://osf.io/be5vx
35.
KubeT.GlombiewskiJ. A. (2021). How depressive symptoms hinder positive information processing: An experimental study on the interplay of cognitive immunisation and negative mood in the context of expectation adjustment. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 45, 517–528. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-020-10191-4
36.
KubeT.KirchnerL.LemmerG.GlombiewskiJ. A. (2021). How the discrepancy between prior expectations and new information influences expectation updating in depression—The greater the better?Clinical Psychological Science. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/21677026211024644
37.
KubeT.KirchnerL.RiefW.GärtnerT.GlombiewskiJ. A. (2019). Belief updating in depression is not related to increased sensitivity to unexpectedly negative information. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 123, Article 103509. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brat.2019.103509
38.
KubeT.RozenkrantzL. (2020). When our beliefs face reality: An integrative review of belief updating in mental health and illness. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 16(2), 247–274. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691620931496
39.
LazarusR. S.FolkmanS. (1984). Stress, appraisal, and coping. Springer.
40.
LearyM. R.BaumeisterR. F. (2000). The nature and function of self-esteem: Sociometer theory. In ZannaM. P. (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 32, pp. 1–62). Academic Press. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0065-2601(00)80003-9
41.
LeboisL. A. M.HertzogC.SlavichG. M.Barrett FeldmanL.BarsalouL. W. (2016). Establishing the situated features associated with perceived stress. Acta Psychologica, 169, 119–132. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2016.05.012
42.
LefebvreG.LebretonM.MeynielF.Bourgeois-GirondeS.PalminteriS. (2017). Behavioural and neural characterization of optimistic reinforcement learning. Nature Human Behaviour, 1, Article 0067. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-017-0067
43.
MorganS. L. (2004). Methodologist as arbitrator: Five models for black–white differences in the causal effect of expectations on attainment. Sociological Methods & Research, 33(1), 3–53. https://doi.org/10.1177/0049124104263657
44.
MortonD. L.El-DeredyW.MortonA. S.ElliottR.JonesA. K. P. (2011). Optimism facilitates the utilisation of prior cues. European Journal of Personality, 25(6), 424–430. https://doi.org/10.1002/per.805
45.
NassarM. R.WilsonR. C.HeaslyB.GoldJ. I. (2010). An approximately Bayesian Delta-Rule model explains the dynamics of belief updating in a changing environment. Journal of Neuroscience, 30(37), 12366–12378. https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0822-10.2010
46.
NeubergS. L.NewsomJ. T. (1993). Personal need for structure: Individual differences in the desire for simpler structure. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65(1), 113–131. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.65.1.113
47.
OlsonM. A.FazioR. H. (2004). Reducing the influence of extrapersonal associations on the Implicit Association Test: Personalizing the IAT. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 86(5), 653–667. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.86.5.653
48.
PietzschM.PinquartM. (2020). ViolEx-Fragebogen zu dispositionellen Strategien bei Erwartungsverletzungen [ViolEx Questionnaire on Dispositional Strategies for Expectation Violations]. [Manuscript in preparation]. Department of Psychology, Philipps University Marburg.
49.
PinquartM.EbelingM. (2020). Students’ expected and actual academic achievement–A meta-analysis. International Journal of Educational Research, 100, Article 101524.
50.
PinquartM.EndresD.Teige-MocigembaS.PanitzC.SchützA. C. (2021). Why expectations do or do not change after expectation violation: A comparison of seven models. Consciousness and Cognition, 89, Article 103086.
51.
PinquartM.PanitzC.GollwitzerM.RothersA.KhosrowtajZ.PietzschM. (2021). Predictors of coping with expectation violation: An integrative review. Review of General Psychology, 25, 321–333.
52.
RescorlaR. A.WagnerA. R. (1972). A theory of Pavlovian conditioning: Variations in the effectiveness of reinforcement and nonreinforcement. In BlackA. H.ProkasyW. F. (Eds.), Classical conditioning II (pp. 64–99). Appleton-Century-Crofts.
53.
RiefW.GlombiewskiJ. A. (2017). The role of expectations in mental disorders and their treatment. World Psychiatry, 16(2), 210–211. https://doi.org/10.1002/wps.20427
54.
RoeseN. J.ShermanJ. W. (2007). Expectancy. In KruglanskiA. W.HigginsE. T. (Eds.), Social psychology: Handbook of basic principles (pp. 91–115). The Guilford Press.
55.
SchlinkS.WaltherE. (2007). Kurz und gut: Eine deutsche Kurzskala zur Erfassung des Bedürfnisses nach kognitiver Geschlossenheit. [Short and sweet: A German short scale to assess the need for cognitive closure]. Zeitschrift für Sozialpsychologie, 38(3), 153–161. https://doi.org/10.1024/0044-3514.38.3.153
56.
SetaJ. S.SetaC. E. (1994). Stereotypes and the generation of compensatory and noncompensatory expectancies of group members. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 19, 722–731. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167293196007
57.
SharotT.KornC.DolanR. (2011). How unrealistic optimism is maintained in the face of reality. Nature Neuroscience, 14, 1475–1479. https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.2949
58.
SkaalvikS.SkaalvikE. M. (2004). Gender differences in math and verbal self-concept, performance expectations, and motivation. Sex Roles, 50, 241–252. https://doi.org/10.1023/B:SERS.0000015555.40976.e6
59.
StrojnyP.KossowskaM.StrojnyA. (2016). Search for expectancy-inconsistent information reduces uncertainty better: The role of cognitive capacity. Frontiers in Psychology, 7, Article 395. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00395
60.
StussiY.PourtoisG.SanderD. (2018). Enhanced Pavlovian aversive conditioning to positive emotional stimuli. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 147(6), 905–923. https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0000424
61.
Suárez-ÁlvarezJ.Fernández-AlonsoR.MunizJ. (2014). Self-concept, motivation, expectations and socioeconomic level as predictors of academic performance in mathematics. Learning and Individual Differences, 30, 118–123. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2013.10.019
SwannW. B. (1983). Self-verification: Bringing social reality into harmony with the self. In SulsJ.GreenwaldA. G. (Eds.), Social psychological perspectives on the self (Vol. 2, pp. 33–66). Lawrence Erlbaum.
SwannW. B.ReadS. J. (1981). Self-verification processes: How we sustain our self-conceptions. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 17(4), 351–372. https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-1031(81)90043-3
66.
WeinsteinN. D. (1980). Unrealistic optimism about future life events. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 39(5), 806–820. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.39.5.806
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
