The effect of social comparison in an intergroup context on children’s motivation, performance and self-efficacy

• In Event: The effect of information in the intergroup context on children's attitudes, behavior, and self-efficacy

Abstract

Children’s motivation and perseverance are crucial for their academic success. When linked to a particular task, group membership and social identity have been found to positively affect children’s motivation to engage and persist in this task (e.g., Master & Walton, 2013; Master, Cheryan, & Meltzoff, 2017). At the same time, social comparison with others can also have a negative effect on children’s performance and motivation (e.g., Dijkstra et al., 2008). Up to the present, little experimental research exists on this topic in general, and no research has systematically investigated the effects of social comparison in an intergroup context.
The present study therefore investigated how social comparison in the intergroup context influences children's performance, their motivation and their self-efficacy in a challenging task. For that purpose, we allocated 6-year-old children (N=46) into one of two novel color groups. The other group members were represented by photographs of children and participants were led to believe that these had been participating in the study before them. Children were then introduced to a "very difficult" jigsaw puzzle and asked whether they wanted to receive information about their ingroup members' or their outgroup members' performance (comparison choice). Independent of their choice they then received information about both groups' performance. Children in the ingroup good condition (upward comparison) were told that most children in their ingroup had managed to assemble many pieces, while most children in the outgroup had managed to assemble only a few pieces. Children in the ingroup poor condition (downward comparison) were told that most children in their ingroup had managed to assemble only a few pieces, while most children in the outgroup had managed to assemble many pieces. Children then had the opportunity to work on the jigsaw puzzle themselves as long as they wanted to. We measured their persistence (time in seconds) and their performance (number of pieces assembled). Afterwards, children were asked to indicate their enjoyment, motivation and self-efficacy on a 5-point-Likert scale.
Results reveal that the vast majority of children (76%) chose to hear about their ingroup members' performance (p<.001), suggesting that children are oriented towards ingroup comparison. Children in the ingroup bad condition persisted longer (p=.033) and assembled more pieces (p=.014), and showed a higher score in their self-efficacy (p=0.010) than children in the ingroup good condition. However, we found no effect of condition on children’s enjoyment or their motivation (ps>.05). Thus, a downward comparison with ingroup members’ performance on a hard task can boost children’s persistence and self-efficacy, whereas an upward comparison has a negative effect. Results of this study highlight the importance of group identity and social comparison in the intergroup context on children’s academic performance and motivation, and open up new avenues for future research and interventions.

Authors

• Antonia Misch, LMU Munich
  Presenting Author

• Markus Paulus, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
  Non-Presenting Author