Receiving self-relevant feedback that is discrepant from one's self-concept can lead to self-concept change. However, it is currently unclear whether positive or negative feedback has a larger effect ...on self-concept change. Across four studies (total
= 1,438), we demonstrate that intentions for self-concept change (Study 1) as well as actual self-concept change (Studies 2, 3, and 4) are larger (a) for larger discrepancies between self-concept and feedback and (b) for negative compared to positive discrepancies. Exploring these effects further in Study 4, we find no evidence that the opportunity for improvement influences whether self-concept change is positively or negatively biased. In sum, the present research provides consistent evidence for a negativity bias in self-concept change, investigates a theoretical explanation, and discusses alternative explanatory approaches.
PurposeSubstantial research has examined the self-concept, but little work has investigated the contents and structure of the self-concept in combination within performance settings, particularly ...from a within-person perspective. Thus, this research developed and examined a conceptual framework based on Greenwald et al. (2002) to understand how core self-evaluations (CSE) and self-concept clarity (SCC) interact to influence motivational orientation with implications for performance dimensions.Design/methodology/approachFull-time employees (N = 138) completed daily measures of CSE, SCC, motivational orientation, organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) and counterproductive work behaviors (CWBs) over the course of three weeks.FindingsMultilevel modeling indicated CSE influences motivational orientation, SCC can moderate these relationships and motivational orientation relates to OCBs and counterproductive work behaviors.Originality/valueThis work contributes to this research area by developing and examining an integrative conceptual framework involving aspects of self-concept, motivation and performance from a within-person perspective.
The association between academic self-concept and achievement is assumed to be reciprocal. Typically, the association is analyzed by variants of the classical cross-lagged panel model. Results with ...more recently developed methodological approaches, for example, the random intercept cross-lagged panel model, its continuous-time implementation, and the latent change score model, are not available so far. The present study aimed to test the association between reading self-concept and reading achievement with different models to evaluate whether positive cross-lagged effects can be demonstrated with the alternative models. Drawing on a sample of 2,014 elementary students from Grade 1 to Grade 4, results of alternative models yielded noticeable differences. Support for reciprocal effects between reading self-concept and reading achievement was found using the classical and the full-forward cross-lagged panel models. No such effects were found in the other models. Thus, the reciprocal effect model can be called into question for elementary schoolchildren. The results are discussed with regard to the theoretical assumptions and appropriate methodological approaches.
Self-concept clarity and self-esteem are powerful determinants of people's thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Yet, even after over 30 years of research, the conceptual and empirical ties between ...these two self-aspects remain understudied, and little is known about the nature and function of their relationship. The present study aimed at discerning the empirical similarities and differences between self-concept clarity and self-esteem in order to examine whether they can be considered sibling constructs that are conceptually and empirically related, but not identical. Specifically, we used multivariate eight-wave longitudinal data from two cohorts of young adults (Cohort 1, N = 460; Cohort 2, N = 412) to examine the structural, cross-sectional, and longitudinal links between self-concept clarity and self-esteem, as well as their incremental validity and within-person transactions over time. We found strong evidence that self-concept clarity and self-esteem are not the same but sibling constructs. Specifically, both self-aspects were as follows: (a) structurally different and (b) cross-sectionally related, (c) shared similar but not identical developmental trajectories, (d) codeveloped over time, (e) demonstrated incremental validity in the prediction of important life outcomes, and (f) demonstrated distinctive within-person associations over time. Overall, the present study provides the most comprehensive demonstration that self-concept clarity and self-esteem are similar but different in several meaningful ways, which is of crucial importance for theory, research, and practice.
A growing body of leadership literature focuses on leader and follower identity dynamics, levels, processes of development and outcomes. Despite the importance of the phenomena, there has been ...surprisingly little effort to systematically review the widely dispersed literature on leader and follower identity. In this review we map existing studies on a multilevel framework that integrates levels-of-the self (individual, relational and collective) with the levels-of-analysis (intrapersonal, interpersonal and group) on which leader or follower identity work takes place. We also synthesize work from multiple research paradigms, such as social psychology experimental studies, narrative accounts of leaders' identity work and field studies on antecedents, outcomes, mediating mechanisms and boundary conditions. Finally, we outline implications for leadership development and call attention to key themes we see ripe for future research.
In this study, we analyzed how secondary school tracking relates to students' self-beliefs (i.e., their academic self-concepts in different domains and their beliefs regarding their labor market ...chances) and school disengagement during a time period that has received little attention in educational psychological research on tracking: when students are at the end of schooling and on the verge of entering the labor market. In doing so, we disentangled 2 distinguishing features of tracking: tracks as social contexts (operationalized via track level and the mean achievement of students' schoolmates) and tracks as pathways to different future opportunities (operationalized via educational certificates). Using questionnaire, achievement, and administrative school data from 2,155 students from 29 low-track schools, 23 intermediate-track schools, and 35 comprehensive schools in Berlin, Germany, we found educational certificates to be the most important factor shaping students' self-beliefs and school disengagement. Irrespective of their individual achievement, their schoolmates' achievement, and their track level, students who received the intermediate school-leaving certificate had higher academic self-concepts, believed that their certificate would give them better chances of success in the labor market, and were less disengaged from school than students who received the low school-leaving certificate. In contrast, students' track level did not serve as a predictor for the outcomes considered. The achievement of students' schoolmates (i.e., the big-fish-little-pond effect) was only relevant for students' academic self-concepts and not for students' self-beliefs regarding labor market entry or their school disengagement.
Believing that one is either a "math person" or a "language person" can have important implications for students' engagement and performance in different activities and for their educational and ...career choices. One important source of information children use to form such self-relevant motivational beliefs is dimensional comparisons; that is, students engage in intraindividual comparisons of their subjective abilities across domains such as math and language arts when making self-evaluations. Despite their fundamental impact on students' educational outcomes, our understanding of when dimensional comparisons begin to influence children's self-perceptions, how this influence might change as children grow older, and whether the pattern varies across different types of motivational beliefs is still limited. A meta-analysis of 142 independent samples, 210,954 participants, and 426 effect sizes showed that the correlations between students' math- and language-related motivational beliefs decreased from r = .32, 95% CI .26, .37 for Grades 1-4 to r = −.01, 95% CI −.07, .04 for Grades 9-12/13. A meta-regression revealed a significant moderating effect of students' grade level on the association between students' math- and language-related motivational beliefs, b = −.06, 95% CI −.06, −.05, indicating an increasing differentiation in these beliefs. Findings generalized over samples across the world and studies using different research designs and held true for motivational constructs such as ability self-concepts and interests. Our results suggest that dimensional comparisons are involved in the formation of students' domain-specific motivational beliefs across the childhood and adolescent years and that their relative importance increases over the school years.
Public Significance Statement
Dimensional comparisons-that is, intraindividual comparisons of a person's relative and subjective strengths and weaknesses across different domains-are an important source of information people use to determine what they are good at and what they like. This meta-analysis shows that students' reliance on dimensional comparisons across the math and verbal domains increases over the school years. The role of dimensional comparisons is strongest in the high school years, a time when students form specialized identities (e.g., a "math person") and make achievement-related choices with long-term consequences for their educational and career trajectories.
Background
The cross‐lagged panel (regression) model (CLPM) is the usual framework of choice to test the longitudinal reciprocal effects between self‐concept and achievement. Criticisms of the CLPM ...are that causal paths are over‐estimated as they fail to discriminate between‐ and within‐person variation. The random‐intercept cross‐lagged panel model (RI‐CLPM) is one alternative that extends the CLPM by partialling out between‐person variance.
Aims
We compare analyses from a CLPM and a RI‐CLPM which examine the reciprocal relationships between self‐concept, self‐efficacy, and achievement and determine the extent CLPM estimates are inflated by between‐person variance.
Sample(s)
Participants (n = 314) were first‐year undergraduate psychology students recruited as part of the STudent Engagement with Education and Learning (STEEL) project.
Methods
Participants completed measures of self‐efficacy and self‐concept prior to completing fortnightly quiz assessments.
Results
Cross‐Lagged Panel (regression) Model estimates are likely over‐estimated in comparison with RI‐CLPM estimates. Cross‐Lagged Panel (regression) Model analyses identified a reciprocal effects relationship between self‐concept and achievement, confirming established literature. In RI‐CLPM analyses, these effects were attenuated and a skill development association between achievement and self‐concept was supported. A reciprocal relationship between self‐efficacy and achievement was supported. Better model fit was reported for the RI‐CLPM analyses.
Conclusions
Prior findings relating to the reciprocal effects of self‐concept and achievement need to be reconsidered. Whilst such a relationship was supported in a CLPM analysis in this study, within an RI‐CLPM framework, only achievement predicted self‐concept. However, in both CLPM and RI‐CLPM models a reciprocal effects model of self‐efficacy and achievement was supported.
This study extends the classic constructive dialogue/debate between self-concept and self-efficacy researchers (Marsh, Roche, Pajares, & Miller, 1997) regarding the distinctions between these 2 ...constructs. The study is a substantive-methodological synergy, bringing together new substantive, theoretical, and statistical models and developing new tests of the classic jingle-jangle fallacy. We demonstrate that in a representative sample of 3,350 students from math classes in 43 German schools, generalized math self-efficacy and math outcome expectancies were indistinguishable from math self-concept, but were distinct from test-related and functional measures of self-efficacy. This is consistent with the jingle-jangle fallacies that are proposed. On the basis of pretest variables, we demonstrate negative frame-of-reference effects in social (big-fish-little-pond effect) and dimensional (internal/external frame-of-reference effect) comparisons for three self-concept-like constructs in each of the first 4 years of secondary school. In contrast, none of the frame-of-reference effects were significantly negative for either of the two self-efficacy-like constructs in any of the 4 years of testing. After controlling for pretest variables, each of the 3 self-concept-like constructs (math self-concept, outcome expectancy, and generalized math self-efficacy) in each of the 4 years of secondary school was more strongly related to posttest outcomes (school grades, test scores, future aspirations) than were the corresponding 2 self-efficacy-like factors. Extending discussion by Marsh et al. (1997), we clarify distinctions between self-efficacy and self-concept; the role of evaluation, worthiness, and outcome expectancy in self-efficacy measures; and complications in generalized and global measures of self-efficacy.
Educational Impact and Implications Statement
Positive self-beliefs are a central construct in educational psychology, and self-concept and self-efficacy are the most widely used and theoretically important representations of positive self-beliefs. In Educational Psychology, much effort has been expended in trying to distinguish between self-concept and self-efficacy. Nevertheless, in practice and theory the distinction remains murky. We critique previous conceptual attempts to distinguish the two constructs-arguing against some distinctions that have been offered in the past and offering some new theoretical distinctions and new empirical approaches to testing support for these distinctions.
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