Contextual Influences in the Relationships Between Academic Standing and Academic Self-Beliefs

Abstract

The goal of the present research was to examine the relationships between academic achievement and the academic self-concept and their role in the construction of academic self-beliefs. In four studies, we assessed (1) the general academic self-knowledge of students, (2) the academic self-knowledge of older students, and (3) academic self-knowledge in a specific discipline when participants were assigned a specific social position. In the first two studies, all participants exhibited self-beliefs related to superiority, including those whose academic standing was poor. The pattern was weaker for poor students whose academic history was longer (Study 3). When referring to a specific academic situation (English class), however, participants endorsed traits as self-descriptive that were consistent with their academic standing. When assigned a specific social position based on academic achievement, only average students endorsed traits that conformed to their assigned social position.