Phantom Behavioral Assimilation Effects: Systematic Biases in Social Comparison Choice Studies - Archive ouverte HAL
Article Dans Une Revue Journal of Personality Année : 2010

Phantom Behavioral Assimilation Effects: Systematic Biases in Social Comparison Choice Studies

Herbert W. Marsh
  • Fonction : Auteur
Marjorie Seaton
  • Fonction : Auteur
Hans Kuyper
  • Fonction : Auteur
Florence Dumas
Pascal Huguet
Isabelle Régner
Abraham P. Buunk
  • Fonction : Auteur
Jean-Marc Monteil
  • Fonction : Auteur
Frederick X. Gibbons
  • Fonction : Auteur

Résumé

Consistent with social comparison theory (SCT), Blanton, Buunk, Gibbons, and Kuyper (1999) and Huguet, Dumas, Monteil, and Genestoux (2001) found that students tended to choose comparison targets who slightly outperformed them (i.e., upward comparison choices), and this had a beneficial effect on subsequent performance-a behavioral assimilation effect (BAE). We show (Studies 1 and 2) that this apparent BAE is due, in part, to uncontrolled measurement error in pretest achievement. However, using simulated data (Study 3), these phantom BAEs were eliminated with latent-variable models with multiple indicators. In Studies 4 and 5, latent-variable models were applied to the Blanton et al. and Huguet et al. data, resulting in substantially smaller but still significantly positive BAEs. More generally in personality research based on correlational data, failure to control measurement error in pretest/background variables will positively bias the apparent effects of personality variables of interest, but widely applicable approaches demonstrated here can correct for these biases.

Domaines

Psychologie

Dates et versions

hal-01440455 , version 1 (19-01-2017)

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Citer

Herbert W. Marsh, Marjorie Seaton, Hans Kuyper, Florence Dumas, Pascal Huguet, et al.. Phantom Behavioral Assimilation Effects: Systematic Biases in Social Comparison Choice Studies. Journal of Personality, 2010, 78 (2), pp.671-710. ⟨10.1111/j.1467-6494.2010.00630.x⟩. ⟨hal-01440455⟩

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