Big-fish-little-pond social comparison and local dominance effects: Integrating new statistical models,methodology, design,theory and substantive implications |
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| Institution: | 1. School of Educational and Social Sciences, Department of Educational Sciences, Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, Germany;2. Department of Psychology, Christian-Albrechts-Universität Kiel, Olshausenstraße 75, 24118 Kiel, Germany;1. Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Educational Effectiveness and Evaluation, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium;2. Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, School Psychology and Child and Adolescent Development, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium;3. Department of Psychology, University of Trier, Trier, Germany;4. Education, Culture, Cognition and Society (ECCS), Faculty of Language and Literature, Humanities, Arts and Education, University of Luxembourg, Luxembourg |
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| Abstract: | We offer new theoretical, substantive, statistical, design, and methodological insights into the seemingly paradoxical negative effects of school- and class-average achievement (ACH) on academic self-concept (ASC)—the big-fish-little-pond-effect (BFLPE; 15,356 Dutch 9th grade students from 651 classes in 95 schools). In support of the theoretical, social-comparison basis of the BFLPE, controlling for direct measures of social comparison (subjective ranking of how students compare with other students in their own class) substantially reduces the BFLPE. Based on new (latent three-level) statistical models and theoretical predictions integrating BFLPEs and ‘local dominance’ effects, significantly negative BFLPEs at the school level are largely eliminated, absorbed into even larger BFLPEs at the class level. Students accurately perceive large ACH differences between different classes within their school and across different schools. However, consistent with local dominance, ASCs are largely determined by comparisons with students in their own class, not objective or subjective comparisons with other classes or schools. At the individual student level, ASC is more highly related to class marks (from report cards) than standardized test scores, but the negative BFLPE is largely a function of class-average test scores. Consistent with theoretical predictions, BFLPEs generalize across objective and subjective measures of individual ACH, and BFLPEs are similar for the brightest and weakest students. |
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| Keywords: | Big-fish-little-pond effect (BFLPE) Local dominance effect Social comparison processes Academic self-concept Multilevel structural equation models |
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