Determinants of preferences among tasks with diagnosticity of his/her own ability:Individual and sex differences in self-assessment motivation and self-enhancement motivation.

There are two different views on gathering information about self. According to "self-assessment" view, individuals choose tasks that are diagnostic about themselves, regardless of self-esteem implications. On the other hand, according to "self-enhancement" view, individuals choose tasks that are diagnostic only when they have positive self-esteem implications. Present research tested these predictions in Japanese college students, using for tasks with high or low diagnosticity of success and failure. In subjects with low uncertainty of self-esteem, task preference increased with diagnosticity of success and diagnosticity of failure. This was consistent with self-assessment view. However, in subjects with high uncertainty of self-esteem, task preference didn't increase with diagnosticity of failure. In subjects with high self-esteem, task preference is high with high diagnosticity of failure than that of subjects with low self-esteem. The results suggest large individual differences in gathering information about self. They also suggest that not only self-esteem but also uncertainty of self-esteem should be considered in studies of self-enhancement motivation.