Happy fish in little ponds: Testing a reference group model of achievement and emotion
Journal article
Pekrun, Reinhard, Murayama, Kou, Marsh, Herbert W., Goetz, Thomas and Frenzel, Anne C.. (2019). Happy fish in little ponds: Testing a reference group model of achievement and emotion. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 117(1), pp. 166 - 185. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspp0000230
Authors | Pekrun, Reinhard, Murayama, Kou, Marsh, Herbert W., Goetz, Thomas and Frenzel, Anne C. |
---|---|
Abstract | A theoretical model linking achievement and emotions is proposed. The model posits that individual achievement promotes positive achievement emotions and reduces negative achievement emotions. In contrast, group-level achievement is thought to reduce individuals’ positive emotions and increase their negative emotions. The model was tested using one cross-sectional and two longitudinal datasets on 5th to 10th grade students’ achievement emotions in mathematics (Studies 1–3: Ns = 1,610, 1,759, and 4,353, respectively). Multilevel latent structural equation modeling confirmed that individual achievement had positive predictive effects on positive emotions (enjoyment, pride) and negative predictive effects on negative emotions (anger, anxiety, shame, and hopelessness), controlling for prior achievement, autoregressive effects, reciprocal effects, gender, and socioeconomic status (SES). Class-level achievement had negative compositional effects on the positive emotions and positive compositional effects on the negative emotions. Additional analyses suggested that self-concept of ability is a possible mediator of these effects. Furthermore, there were positive compositional effects of class-level achievement on individual achievement in Study 2 but not in Study 3, indicating that negative compositional effects on emotion are not reliably counteracted by positive effects on performance. The results were robust across studies, age groups, synchronous versus longitudinal analysis, and latent-manifest versus doubly latent modeling. These findings imply that individual success drives emotional well-being, whereas placing individuals in high-achieving groups can undermine well-being. Thus, the findings challenge policy and practice decisions on achievement-contingent allocation of individuals to groups. |
Keywords | achievement emotion; compositional effect; contextual effect; frame-ofreference effect; control-value theory |
Year | 2019 |
Journal | Journal of Personality and Social Psychology |
Journal citation | 117 (1), pp. 166 - 185 |
Publisher | American Psychological Association |
ISSN | 0022-3514 |
Digital Object Identifier (DOI) | https://doi.org/10.1037/pspp0000230 |
Scopus EID | 2-s2.0-85060284620 |
Open access | Published as green open access |
Page range | 166 - 185 |
Research Group | Institute for Positive Psychology and Education |
Author's accepted manuscript | License All rights reserved File Access Level Open |
Publisher's version | License All rights reserved File Access Level Controlled |
Place of publication | United States of America |
https://acuresearchbank.acu.edu.au/item/85q7x/happy-fish-in-little-ponds-testing-a-reference-group-model-of-achievement-and-emotion
Download files
Author's accepted manuscript
AM_Pekrun_2019_Happy_fish_in_little_ponds_testing.pdf | |
License: All rights reserved | |
File access level: Open |
Restricted files
Publisher's version
224
total views212
total downloads2
views this month2
downloads this month