Boissicat Natacha, Fayant Marie-Pierre, Nurra Cécile, Muller Dominique
LaRAC, Univ. Grenoble Alpes, France.
LPS, Université de Paris, France.
Br J Educ Psychol. 2022 Jun;92(2):e12466. doi: 10.1111/bjep.12466. Epub 2021 Nov 3.
Social comparisons between pupils are especially relevant at school. Such comparisons influence self-perception and performance. When pupils evaluate themselves more negatively and perform worse after an upward comparison (with a better off pupil) than a downward comparison (with a worse-off pupil), this is a contrast effect. On the other hand, when they evaluate themselves more positively and are better after an upward than downward comparison, this is an assimilation effect.
We examine assimilation and contrast effects of comparison in the classroom on pupils' self-evaluation and performance. Previous work by Fayant, Muller, Nurra, Alexopoulos, and Palluel-Germain (2011) lead us to hypothesize that approach vs. avoidance moderates the impact of upward vs. downward comparison: approach should lead to an assimilation effect on self-evaluation and performance, while avoidance should lead to contrast on self-evaluation and performance.
To test this hypothesis, we primed pupils with either approach or avoidance before reading upward or downward comparison information about another pupil. We then measured self-evaluation (Experiment 1) and performance (Experiments 1 and 2).
Results confirmed our predictions and revealed the predicted interaction on self-evaluation (Experiment 1) and performance (Experiment 2): approach leads to an assimilation effect (in both experiments) whereas avoidance leads to a contrast effect (in Experiment 2).
These experiments replicate previous studies on self-evaluation and also extend previous work on performance and in a classroom setting. Priming approach before upward comparison seems especially beneficial to pupils.
学生之间的社会比较在学校尤为重要。这种比较会影响自我认知和表现。当学生在向上比较（与情况较好的学生相比）后比在向下比较（与情况较差的学生相比）时对自己的评价更消极且表现更差，这就是一种对比效应。另一方面，当他们在向上比较后比向下比较时对自己的评价更积极且表现更好，这就是一种同化效应。
我们研究课堂中的比较对学生自我评价和表现的同化与对比效应。法扬特、米勒、努拉、亚历克索普洛斯和帕吕埃尔 - 热尔曼（2011年）之前的研究使我们假设，趋近与回避调节向上与向下比较的影响：趋近应导致对自我评价和表现的同化效应，而回避应导致对自我评价和表现的对比效应。
为了验证这一假设，我们在让学生阅读关于另一名学生的向上或向下比较信息之前，用趋近或回避对他们进行启动。然后我们测量了自我评价（实验1）和表现（实验1和实验2）。
结果证实了我们的预测，并揭示了在自我评价（实验1）和表现（实验2）方面预测的交互作用：趋近导致同化效应（在两个实验中），而回避导致对比效应（在实验2中）。
这些实验重复了之前关于自我评价的研究，并且在课堂环境中扩展了之前关于表现的研究。在向上比较之前启动趋近对学生似乎特别有益。
