Big fish in big ponds: Contrast and assimilation effects on mathand verbal self-concepts of students in within-school gifted tracks

摘要

Background. Ability grouping can lower students' academic self-perceptions through reference group effects of class-average achievement on academic self-concept (ASC) - the Big-Fish-Little-Pond-effect (BFLPE; Marsh & Parker, 1984, J. Pers. Soc. Psychol., 47, 213). Although the effect itself is well documented, many open questions remain. For instance, negative contrast effects of group average achievement and positive assimilation effects of group status are confounded in most BFLPE studies. For the verbal domain, no study has yet investigated contrast and assimilation effects simultaneously. Strong assimilation effects can be assumed for gifted ability grouping.