Boasts are a boost: achievement prime self-reactivity predicts subsequent academic performance.

The present research tests the hypothesis that self-reactivity following an achievement prime reflects the strength of achievement goals and is a predictor of future goal-relevant performance. In Studies 1-3, undergraduates reported their grade-point averages (GPAs) following either an achievement goal prime or a control prime. Academic exaggeration (higher self-reported than official GPA) was the indicator of self-reactivity to the prime.

Beyond oversights, lies, and pies in the sky: exaggeration as goal projection.

The adaptiveness of overly positive self-evaluation is heavily debated. The present research emphasizes that costs and benefits of positive biases are contingent upon their underlying motives. Five studies explored psychological and performance correlates of the tendency to exaggerate academic performance.

Big tales and cool heads: academic exaggeration is related to cardiac vagal reactivity.

Students who exaggerate their current grade point averages (GPAs) report positive emotional and motivational orientations toward academics (Gramzow & Willard, 2006; Willard & Gramzow, 2007). It is conceivable, however, that these self-reports mask underlying anxieties. The current study examined cardiovascular reactivity during an academic interview in order to determine whether exaggerators respond with a pattern suggestive of anxiety or, alternatively, equanimity.

Exaggerating current and past performance: motivated self-enhancement versus reconstructive memory.

The authors propose distinct reasons why individuals exaggerate their current and past performance. Current performance is of motivational and self-evaluative significance, and exaggerations of current performance often stem from motivated self-enhancement concerns. Self-reports of past performance are influenced less by motivated self-enhancement, instead reflecting more subtle biases in reconstructive memory.