The joint effect of expectations and performance on efficacy beliefs

• We study how perceived advantage affect changes in efficacy beliefs.
• Perceived advantage decreased subsequent efficacy beliefs.
• Perceived advantage reduced reliance on ego-protecting strategies.
• This is explained by attribution and the evaluation of outcomes against expectations.

This experiment examined how perceptions of advantage and disadvantage, as well as their interaction with a performance outcome, affect change in efficacy beliefs in a competitive situation. Perceptions of advantageous or disadvantageous opening positions were experimentally manipulated (keeping the actual positions equal) while performance was observed. Perceiving an advantage decreased post-performance self-efficacy and reduced reliance on ego-protecting strategies. These effects are explained by attribution processes.