The Effect Of Social Comparison Direction On Ability Perception And Subjective Well-being Of Junior High School Students

This study,based on implicit theory of intelligence(Dweck & Leggett,1988)and achievement goal approach(Elliot,1999,2005),studied 7^th and 8^th grade junior high school students in Qingzhou China to explore the impact of social comparisons on their perceptions of competence and subjective well-being,particularly the moderating effect of achievement goals.Two studies were constructed based on the purpose of the research.Study one was to explore the impact of social comparisons on junior high school students' perceptions of competence and subjective well-being.Study two was to further explore the moderating effect of achievement goals on the relationship between social comparisons and junior high school students' perceptions of competence and subjective well-being.Study one conducted an experiment among 174 7^th and 8^th grade students in a high school.The results,based on 170 valid participant ranging from 12-14year(M=12.79 ?,SD=.66),showed that social comparisons affected junior high school students' perceptions of competence and subjective well-being.The students in the condition of upward social comparison yielded lower perceptions of competence,more satisfaction with task performance,and more positive emotions than those in the condition of downward social comparison and the control group,while their negative emotions were higher than those in the two conditions.In addition,the students in conditions of downward social comparison yielded higher perceptions of competence and more satisfaction with task performance than those in control group,but there was no significant difference between the positive and negative emotions between the conditions of downward social comparison and control group.The second study further manipulated achievement goals among 382 7^th and 8^th grade students in the same high school.The results,based on 378 valid participant ranging from 12-14year(M=12.82 ?,SD=.67),showed that:(1)achievement goals played a moderating role in the relation between upward social comparison and perceptions of competence,satisfaction with task performance,positive and negative emotions.In conditions of upward social comparison,the students with experimentally induced mastery-approach goals had higher perceptions of competence,more satisfaction with task performance and positive emotions than those with performance-approach goals.The students with experimentally induced performance-approach goals had higher negative emotions than those with mastery-approach and multiple goals.(2)Achievement goals also moderate the relationship between downward social comparison and satisfaction with task performance.In conditions of downward social comparison,the students with experimentally induced performance-approach goals showed higher satisfaction with task performance than those with experimentally induced masteryapproach goals.At last,the research results were discussed and contributions and shortcomings were summarized.In conjunction,suggestions were provided for educators regarding the adaptive development of junior high school students.