Social utility versus social desirability of students’ attributional self-presentation strategies.

Research on impression management has shown that students can manage their social images by providing attributional self-presentation strategies (ASPSs). Based on the distinction between social desirability judgments and social utility judgments, two studies were conducted to examine the students' understanding of the impact of ASPSs both on teachers’ and peers’ approval and on future success. In Study 1, ninety-one undergraduate students were presented with five bogus profiles of students who based their ASPS on (a) effort, (b) ability, or (c) external attributions, (d) modesty principle, or (e) self-serving bias. They were asked to rank the profiles according to their expectations of the future academic success of each profile, and of the perceived effectiveness of the profiles in order to obtain teachers’ and peers’ approval. Study 2 explored how 100 high-school students and their teachers judge the same five bogus profiles of students used in the previous study. The findings reveal that the strategy based on effort attributions – rooted in the social utility dimension – is the most valued ones to pursue one’s achievements goal. In conclusion, the study provides further evidence about the contribution of self-presentation concerns to individuals' causal attribution patterns for success and failure, and contribute to the theoretical debate on the dimensions underlying the social judgments.