Research suggests that providing children with activities that involve using their bodies to form the shapes of letters can help them acquire pre-reading skills. Little is known, however, as to the extent to which such embodied learning interventions are superior to more traditional pencil-and-paper activities, which of specific arm or body movements are most effective, and whether this approach compensates or exacerbates the learning gap between high- and low-skilled pre-readers. Using a preregistered randomized-controlled experiment (N = 160 kindergarten students, M = 5.18 years, 54

BACKGROUND: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.AIMS: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.METHODS: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: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).CONCLUSIONS: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.

Overestimation and underestimation of students’ own competence result from social comparison in the classroom. There is some evidence that secondary school students compare their results with those of one or two same-sex others who perform slightly better than themselves. The first objective of this study was to replicate these findings among younger students (9–11 years old) in mathematics and language arts (French). The second objective was to consider the identification with the target as a moderator factor, because findings have been divergent regarding the positive or negative influence of social comparison on students’ academic self-evaluation. We expected firstly that absolute upward comparison to be beneficial for students’ self-evaluation bias of competence provided they identified with their upward target. Secondly, we expected their perception of their target’s competence (relative comparison) to contribute to students’ self-evaluation bias of competence and to be negatively related to it. The results indicated a tendency to compare upward and revealed that absolute upward comparison was positively related to the students’ self-evaluation bias of competence in mathematics and French. This relationship was stronger when the students identified with their upward target. In contrast, relative comparison was negatively related to their self-evaluation bias of competence in mathematics and French. To sum up, these results reveal the need to consider identification with the comparison target when studying the relationship between social comparison and academic self-evaluation and to consider relative and absolute comparison simultaneously in order to bring out the full contribution of social comparison in the classroom.

This paper presents a review of the research into the self-evaluation of proficiency biases among school-age children. In a first part, the measure of self-evaluation biases is addressed. In a second part, the findings of a few studies that sought to identify its determiners are presented. In a third part, the controversial viewpoint of the supposedly adaptative character of a positive self-evaluation bias is presented. In a fourth part, the correlates of a negative self-evaluation bias are examined. Finally, after mentioning points that still need to be clarified, our arguments branch out on the recent developments towards examining the links between pupils’ self-evaluation biases and the evaluation of their teachers.

Cet article presente une revue des travaux ayant examine la question des biais d’auto-evaluation de competence cognitive ou scolaire chez des eleves et des etudiants. Dans une premiere partie, nous abordons la question de la mesure des biais d’auto-evaluation. Dans une seconde, nous presentons quelques rares etudes qui ont tente d’identifier leurs determinants. Dans une troisieme partie, nous discutons du point de vue controverse quant au caractere adaptatif d’un biais positif d’auto-evaluation avant d’en venir, dans une quatrieme partie, aux correlats de la presence d’un biais negatif d’auto-evaluation de competence. Enfin, apres avoir evoque des points qui restent encore a eclaircir sur les processus explicatifs des biais d’auto-evaluation, nous terminons notre propos en ouvrant sur des developpements recents visant a examiner a un niveau d’analyse interindividuelle les liens entre le biais d’auto-evaluation des eleves et le jugement de leurs enseignants.

According to the literature, among social comparison mechanisms, identification with an upward target would be the most frequent mechanism that students report to use. However, it remains unclear how the identification and the contrast mechanisms contribute to the construction of pupils’ scholastic perceived competence. The aim of this study was to test the two following hypotheses: (1) the more pupils report using downward identification and upward contrast, the lower their perceived scholastic competence; (2) the more pupils report using upward identification and downward contrast, the higher their perceived scholastic competence will be. Three hundred and eighty French-speaking pupils (147 fourth graders and 233 fifth graders) from public elementary schools in the district of Grenoble (France) were met in their school. Pupils responded to a standardized mental ability test and to a questionnaire about their perceived scholastic competence and their utilization of social comparison mechanisms: upward and downward identification and upward and downward contrast. Boys and girls differed on some of the social comparison mechanisms. However, the two hypotheses were confirmed and hold true for both boys and girls. Findings show that beyond the contribution of cognitive abilities, pupils’ responsiveness to these mechanisms contributed to the development of their perceived scholastic competence. One educational implication is the usefulness of analyzing the processes of social comparison as strategies to allow pupils to maintain a positive perception of their scholastic competence.

Ce travail de thèse traite du caractère plus ou moins irréaliste des perceptions que l'élève a de ses compétences scolaires ou de ce qu'il est convenu d'appeler aujourd'hui le biais d'évaluation de sa compétence scolaire. Deux objectifs principaux structurent ce travail. Le premier vise à vérifier si le type de comparaison sociale auquel l'élève se livre est lié au développement d'un biais négatif d'évaluation de sa compétence scolaire. Pour ce faire, nous avons réalisé 6 études auprès d'élèves francophones de primaire scolarisés en France et au Québec. Dans la lignée des travaux de Buunk et Ybema (1997) et de Buunk et al. (2005), nous avons d'abord testé l'hypothèse selon laquelle les élèves pouvaient interpréter positivement et négativement les comparaisons sociales en classe indépendamment de leur direction. Fort de ces éléments, nous avons vérifié ensuite que l'interprétation positive de la comparaison sociale (identification ascendante et différenciation descendante) est liée positivement au biais d'évaluation de sa compétence alors que l'interprétation négative (identification descendante et différenciation ascendante) lui est négativement reliée. Enfin, une mesure plus fine de la comparaison sociale en classe nous a permis d'explorer si le type de comparaison choisie par l'élève impliquait des effets d'assimilation ou de contraste sur leur biais d'évaluation, selon que l'élève s'identifiait plus ou moins fortement à son camarade de comparaison. Les six études menées dans cette première partie apportent globalement un soutien empirique à nos hypothèses. Le second objectif s'est attaché à étudier l'évolution de ce biais au fil du temps et à vérifier si ces modes d'évolution pouvaient être liés au bien-être psychologique du sujet à moyen terme. Dans cette optique, nous avons conduit des analyses de trajectoires pour décrire l'évolution du phénomène au fil du temps (Nagin, 2005). Cette méthode nous a permis de distinguer des patrons d'évolution distincts mettant en lumière le caractère plus ou moins stable du phénomène. Enfin, la mise en relation de ces trajectoires avec des indicateurs de bien-être et de fonctionnement scolaire révèle que sous-estimer ses compétences constitue un risque d'adaptation psychosociale et scolaire pour les élèves.