Acceso usuarios
Fabian Wolff, Friederike Helm, Fynn Junge, Jens Möller
Dimensional comparisons are comparisons of one’s accomplishments between two domains (e.g., comparisons between math and verbal achievements) that affect our self-perceptions in the domains compared with each other. In particular, dimensional comparisons explain the seemingly paradoxical finding, described in the internal/external frame of reference (I/E) model, that students’ math (verbal) achievement has a negative effect on their verbal (math) self-concept (dimensional comparison effect), while controlling for the positive effect of verbal (math) achievement on verbal (math) self-concept (social comparison effect). The present study is the first to examine awareness of dimensional and social comparisons by testing the I/E model with implicit and explicit self-concepts. Using a sample of 795 students from Germany, we measured students’ implicit self-concepts using a go/no-go association task. Students’ explicit self-concepts were measured using common rating scales. Overall, we were able to replicate the I/E model relations (negative dimensional comparison effects, positive social comparison effects) with both kinds of self-concept operationalization, suggesting that dimensional and social comparisons are also performed unconsciously. The effects of students’ achievements on their explicit self-concepts were usually stronger than those on their implicit self-concepts. However, whereas (in line with prior studies of the I/E model) the dimensional comparison effects were significantly weaker than the social comparison effects in the I/E model with explicit self-concepts, dimensional and social comparison effects were equally strong in the I/E model with implicit self-concepts. This finding emphasizes the relative importance of dimensional comparisons in the process of implicit self-concept formation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved)
