Introduction
People experience different problems that can impact their mental health and behaviors. Moreover, the contemporary world has various issues such as domestic violence, financial challenges, and conflicts. Thus, individuals have developed ways to respond to difficulties and ensure that they are not affected by the problems they face. Self-esteem and cognitive disorders have also become common in the modern world.
Consequently, people have ways to improve their mental health and boost their self-esteem using some mechanisms. Self-handicapping is one of the approaches that many people practice. It is a cognitive strategy where people avoid putting more effort into a particular issue to guarantee that failure does not affect them and impact their self-esteem. The approach is common in schools and workplaces since students and workers ensure that they self-handicap to have excuses for why they failed. The concept of self-handicapping also has a significant impact on how individuals make their decisions. This report focuses on what the Bible says about self-handicapping and how psychological science aligns with the Biblical truth.
The Biblical Worldview Regarding Self-Handicapping
The topic of self-handicapping can be analyzed using scriptures to determine how individuals can ensure that their decisions do not hurt them. Moreover, it involves having hopes about achieving a particular issue. The Bible has primarily encouraged people to ensure that they emulate God’s ways and guarantee that they make good decisions to help them achieve their goals. Additionally, many scriptures have assured that people can learn to be honest with themselves and motivate themselves to do their best.
For instance, “Examine yourselves, whether you be in the faith; prove your own selves” is a scripture that encourages individuals to be determined in life (English Standard Version Bible (ESV), 2001, 2 Corinthians 13:5). The Bible educates people to ensure that they trust God and avoid the anxiety that can lead to low self-esteem. Additionally, procrastination is common in many people and has led to poor decision-making. Therefore, the Bible motivates people to trust and have faith to avoid self-handicapping.
Hope is another vital aspect that has been encouraged in the Bible. People experience challenges due to loss of hope which can lead to challenges such as poor mental health. For instance, many university students have developed depression due to poor academic performance. Therefore, they develop the self-handicapping approach as a way of defending themselves. Researchers have argued that the college environment involves learning and risk-taking opportunities that can affect the psychological stress of the scholars’ handicap (Karami et al., 2020). These challenges can lead to short-term self-handicapping, which increases self-esteem. However, long-term self-handicapping is common in schools and has led many students to experience decreased self-esteem.
The challenges can be minimized by focusing on the Biblical approach whereby scriptures motivate people to do their best and have hope. Self-esteem causes people to self-handicap to obscure their underlying feeling of inferiority and failure (Barutçu Yıldırım & Demir, 2020). Consequently, the Bible addresses this aspect by guaranteeing that humans can learn that having hope in their plans can help them handle losses by accepting the outcome and believing that God is under control. “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope” (ESV, 2001, Romans 15:13).
The scripture is vital since it instills hope in people who experience challenges associated with failure. Thus, the concept of self-handicapping can be addressed using Biblical teachings that involve the need to have hope in life. Accepting failure is another essential issue that has been discussed in the Bible. Typically, people experience losses in society which can lead to self-handicapping. Furthermore, many problems in life involve success and failure. For instance, learners have to be tested in schools, and the outcome involves succeeding or failing. Hence, one should expect any result and develop strategies to handle the outcome.
Performing poorly in a particular area can force an individual to lose trust in God. However, the Bible has many scriptures that focus on downfalls and have been used to motivate people and guarantee that they accept their declines. “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever” (ESV, 2001, Psalms 73:26). The scripture can be used when analyzing the Biblical integration about self-handicapping since failure is a significant reason that forces people to self-handicap.
The scripture motivates people to accept downfalls and trust God in everything they do. For instance, workers may perform poorly in their areas of work, leading to low self-esteem (Shin & Park, 2021). Nonetheless, one can accept challenges and develop ways to improve their performance. Therefore, the scriptures have focused on failure in human life, which can be associated with self-handicapping.
How Psychological Science Aligns with the Biblical Truth About Self-Handicapping
Health practitioners have analyzed how self-handicapping is connected with psychological issues. For instance, many people who practice self-handicapping experience anxiety and low self-esteem. The social skills of such individuals have also been impacted by their experiences, whereby they avoid interacting with others. Failure to interact with other people can lead to low self-esteem and mental health conditions such as depression and sadness. Scientists have also claimed that loneliness is common among people who self-handicap (Karami et al., 2020). Trying to cover the underlying emotions can be difficult for some people and causes them to distance themselves from others. This approach can be challenging as it can lead to lionesses.
The Bible and psychological science have focused on issues that can lead to self-handicap. For instance, they have focused on how disappointment is a significant issue that causes people to experience low self-esteem. The best way to deal with such a situation is to trust oneself. Scientists have revealed that interacting with individuals after a loss can enable people to improve their mental health. The Bible has also focused on the importance of living together and helping one another, especially when in need.
The strategy by the experts aligns with the Biblical truth about self-handicapping since both have discussed the need to improve self-esteem by sharing experiences with others. The Bible and psychological science have also revealed that accepting failure can be an essential approach to avoiding self-handicapping as it limits individuals from experiencing low self-esteem and distress. Therefore, there are different ways that psychological science aligns with the Biblical truth about self-handicapping.
Conclusion
Self-handicapping is a common approach in many learning institutions and workplaces. Many people are afraid of failure and use self-handicapping to avoid the negative aspects associated with loss. For instance, many college students are fearful of performing poorly in their academics. Consequently, they use self-handicapping as a method of dealing with their bad results. The Bible and scientists have revealed that people can focus on self-esteem and ensure that they accept failure to avoid self-handicapping. Thus, there are several aspects associated with self-handicapping.
References
Barutçu Yıldırım, F., & Demir, A. (2020). Self-handicapping among university students: The role of procrastination, test anxiety, self-esteem, and self-compassion. Psychological reports, 123(3), 825-843.
Clarke, I. E., & MacCann, C. (2016). Internal and external aspects of self-handicapping reflect the distinction between motivations and behaviours: Evidence from the Self-handicapping Scale. Personality and Individual Differences, 100, 6-11. Web.
English Standard Version Bible. (2001). ESV Online. Web.
Karami, A., Khodarahimi, S., Ghazanfari, F., Mirdrikvand, F., & Barigh, M. (2020). The prediction of distress tolerance based on the feeling of loneliness and self-handicapping in students. Personality and Individual Differences, 161, 109994. Web.
Shin, H., & Park, S. W. (2021). Perception of self-handicapping behavior in the workplace: Not that great. Current Psychology, 40(2), 910-918. Web.