Rethinking Comparison Processes: The Role of Growth Mindset in Academic Comparisons

Background: Following the 2I/E model, students compare their achievements in one domain with those of their peers (social comparison), with their achievements in other domains (dimensional comparison), and with their achievements over time (temporal comparison). Aims: This preregistered study aimed to increase our understanding of comparison effects by examining two beliefs as possible moderators. First, we drew on existing evidence regarding two moderators of dimensional comparison effects to identify beliefs that possibly moderate temporal comparison effects. Secondly, we tested whether a recently found moderating effect of growth mindset on social and dimensional comparison effects could be replicated. It was expected that a subject-specific growth mindset would moderate social, dimensional, and temporal comparison effects, while perceived psychological distance to earlier achievement would moderate temporal comparison effects. Sample: A total of N = 1,363 students in 9th Grade participated.Methods: The assumptions were tested in a field study using structural equation modeling with latent interactions. Results: Consistent with the 2I/E model, there were significant social, dimensional, and temporal comparison effects of students’ report card grades on their self-concepts in German and math, supporting the importance of all three comparison types. Students’ subject-specific growth mindset significantly reduced the dimensional comparison effects on students’ German and math self-concepts. However, none of the tested moderators affected the strength of social or temporal comparison effects. Conclusions: The results significantly expand our knowledge on moderators of comparison effects and provide a new possibility to foster positive self-concept development by mitigating contrastive effects between achievements in different subjects.