ERIC Number: EJ990556
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2012-Dec
Pages: 15
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1381-2890
EISSN: N/A
Personal Self and Collective Self: When Academic Choices Depend on the Context of Social Comparison
Chazal, Sebastien; Guimond, Serge; Darnon, Celine
Social Psychology of Education: An International Journal, v15 n4 p449-463 Dec 2012
This research examines the impact of same-sex versus opposite-sex social comparisons on the perception of one's own abilities at school and subsequent reported marks and academic choices. During their final year, male and female high school students were asked to describe themselves either in comparison with boys in their class, in comparison with girls in their class or without any explicit social comparison (control group). The interaction effects of gender and comparison context on academic self concept, school marks and academic choices indicated that gender differences depend on the comparison context. Particularly, as predicted, gender differences disappeared in the same-sex social comparison condition, and even became inverted for the intended academic choices. Here, boys intended to choose more than girls Preparatory Courses for Higher Education (PCHE) in the opposite-sex social comparison condition, while girls more often chose a prestigious PCHE than boys in the same-sex social comparison condition. The theoretical, methodological and practical implications of these findings are discussed.
Descriptors: Control Groups, Self Control, Gender Differences, Social Cognition, Academic Ability, Prediction, College Preparation, High School Students, Grades (Scholastic), Reputation, Student Attitudes, Academic Achievement, Social Status
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: High Schools
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A