Persistence of Impressions of Personal Persuasiveness

Subjects' initial assessments of their persuasive ability persisted after the evidential value of apparent success or failure upon which these impressions were based was fully discredited. These results replicate previous impression-perseverance findings obtained by Ross, Lepper, and Hubbard (1975)and demonstrate that such findings generalize to tasks and discrediting procedures more typical of everyday life. Contrary to prediction, explicitly explaining initial performance did not enhance postdiscrediting perseverance; this finding is discussed in terms of the conditions that prompt spontaneous social explanations.