Abstract
A preliminary study designed to illustrate the determinants of accurate self-referent behavior was conducted. Ss predicted their individual performances on arithmetic, verbal, and clerical tasks. After the prediction each task was performed for 3 min. Findings were: (1) Ss predicted their verbal task performance with moderate accuracy (r = .55, p < .01), (2) the arithmetic task was less accurately predicted (r = .29, p < .05), and (3) the clerical task was not predicted. Ss employed consistent estimates and were consistently accurate across verbal and arithmetic tasks but not over either one of these two tasks and the clerical task. Absolute accuracy of prediction was not correlated across any task pairs. The findings are interpreted as functions of differential access to the symbolic acts required to predict one's own behavior accurately.
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