Indian Journal of Health and Wellbeing

Open Access Open Access  Restricted Access Subscription Access
Open Access Open Access Open Access  Restricted Access Restricted Access Subscription Access

Impact of Repeated Failure:An Exploratory Study from the Perspective of Civil Services Aspirants


Affiliations
1 Department of Psychology, University of Allahabad, Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India
     

   Subscribe/Renew Journal


An exploratory study was conducted to understand the meaning, causes and consequences of repeated failure tfom the perspective of civil services aspirants. An open ended questionnaire with interview schedule was distributed among 94 participants with the age range between 25 to 35 years who were giving civil services examination trom at least ten times and were residing in different hostels and lodges of Allahabad. Out of 94 civil services aspirants, only 72 responded and returned the questionnaire. Content analysis of the data revealed that civil services aspirants were facing lot of difficulties in their personal and social life. Most of the civil services aspirants' responses were exam centric and repeated failures were influencing each and every aspect of their life. Some of the civil services aspirants were hopeful while responding the meaning and consequences of failure while most of them were hopeless and were experiencing tremendous mental pressure. The responses also indicated that they were having distorted relationship with their closed ones and they were feeling alienated. Most of them reported that there was shrinkage in the friend circle after facing so much failure. They demonstrated the fear of negative results, feedback avoidance and loss of respect in their life after facing so many failures. They were coping with these challenges by motivating themselves, pursuing hobbies and so on. On the whole this study was an attempt to understand the phenomenology of the civil services aspirants who were failing repeatedly.

Keywords

Mental Pressure, Repeated Failure, Civil Services Aspirants.
Subscription Login to verify subscription
User
Notifications
Font Size


  • Atkinson, J.W. (1964). An introduction to motivation. Van Nostrand: Princeton, NJ.

  • Borich, G.D., & Tombari, M.L. (Eds.) (1997). Education psychology: A contemporary approach (2nded.,pp. 25-30). New York: Longman.

  • Dunning, D., Griffin, D. W., Milojkovic, J. H., & Ross, L. (1990). The overconfidence effect in social prediction. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 58, 568592.

  • Greenwald, A.G. (1980). The totalitarian ego: Fabrication and revision of personal history. American Psychologist, 35,603-618.

  • Higgins, E. T., Friedman, R. S., Harlow, R. E., Idson, L. C., Ayduk, O. N., & Taylor, A. (2001). Achievement orientations fro subjective histories of success: Promotion pride versus prevention pride. European .Journal of Social Psychology, 31,3-23.

  • Langer, E. J. (1975). The illusion of control. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 32, 311-328

  • Lord, C., Ross, L., & Lepper, M.R. (1979). Biased assimilation and attitude polarization: The effects of prior theories on subsequently considered evidence. Journal of Personality a-nd Social Psychology, .57,2098-2109.

  • Major, B., Spencer, S. J., Schmader, T., Wolfe, C., & Crocker, J. (1998). Coping with negative stereotypes about intellectual performance: The role of psychological disengagement. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 24,34-50.

  • McClelland, D.C., Atkinson, J.W., Clark, R.A.,& Lowell, E.L. (1953). The achievement motive. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.

  • McClelland, D.C. (1951). Personality. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.

  • McClelland, D.C. (1961). The achieving society. VanNostrand: Princeton, NJ.

  • McMillan, J. H., & Schumacher, S. (1993). Research in education: A conceptual understanding. New York: Haprer Collins.

  • Miller, D. T., &Ross, M. (1975). Self-serving biases in the attribution of causality: Fact or TidioiTl Psychological Bulletin, 52,213-225.

  • Steele, C. M. (1988). The psychology of self-affirmation: Sustaining the integrity of the self. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.) Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 21, pp. 261-302). New York: Academic Press.

  • Taylor, S.E. (1983). Adjustment to threatening events: A theory of cognitive adaptation. American Psychologist, 38,1161-1173.


Abstract Views: 555

PDF Views: 0




  • Impact of Repeated Failure:An Exploratory Study from the Perspective of Civil Services Aspirants

Abstract Views: 555  |  PDF Views: 0

Authors

Vivek Tiwari
Department of Psychology, University of Allahabad, Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India
Deepa Punetha
Department of Psychology, University of Allahabad, Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India

Abstract


An exploratory study was conducted to understand the meaning, causes and consequences of repeated failure tfom the perspective of civil services aspirants. An open ended questionnaire with interview schedule was distributed among 94 participants with the age range between 25 to 35 years who were giving civil services examination trom at least ten times and were residing in different hostels and lodges of Allahabad. Out of 94 civil services aspirants, only 72 responded and returned the questionnaire. Content analysis of the data revealed that civil services aspirants were facing lot of difficulties in their personal and social life. Most of the civil services aspirants' responses were exam centric and repeated failures were influencing each and every aspect of their life. Some of the civil services aspirants were hopeful while responding the meaning and consequences of failure while most of them were hopeless and were experiencing tremendous mental pressure. The responses also indicated that they were having distorted relationship with their closed ones and they were feeling alienated. Most of them reported that there was shrinkage in the friend circle after facing so much failure. They demonstrated the fear of negative results, feedback avoidance and loss of respect in their life after facing so many failures. They were coping with these challenges by motivating themselves, pursuing hobbies and so on. On the whole this study was an attempt to understand the phenomenology of the civil services aspirants who were failing repeatedly.

Keywords


Mental Pressure, Repeated Failure, Civil Services Aspirants.

References