Construals - Self-construal and The Classroom

Self-construal and The Classroom

In article by Rebecca wing-yi Cheng and Shui-fong Lam they measured the effects of self-construal in the classrom. They studied the "role of self-construal as a moderator of the social comparison effects in authentic classrooms." With the use of 96 Chinese seventh grade students they compared independent and interdependent views of self-construal to upward social comparison and downward social comparison. They noted that "self comparison is commonly used when people are uncertain of their self-evaluation. It allows an individual to gain information about where they stand." The students participated in an Abstract Reasoning Test and reading comprehension task. They manipulated construal by telling the students they were either being compared to others within their school (independent self-construal) or between their school and another school (interdependent self-construal). The results showed that the school children who performed very well experienced negative self-evaluation while those who did not experienced negative self evaluation. However, those in the interdependent self construal condition always reported positive self evaluation showcasing a term known as basking-in-reflected-glory. The hope of this study is to encourage classrooms to ensure that interdependent self-construal is being emphasized.