Pré-Publication, Document De Travail Année : 2025

I Feel Competent, Therefore I Am: Self-Concept and Skill Interact at Different Speeds

Herbert W. Marsh
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Anatolia Batruch
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Marinette Bouet
Marco Bressan
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Genavee Brown
Fabrizio Butera
Anthony Cherbonnier
Marie Demolliens
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Olivier Desrichard
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Luc Goron
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Pascal Huguet
Nathalie Mella-Barraco
Estelle Michinov
Nicolas Michinov
Nana Ofosu
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Laurine Peter
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Céline Poletti
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Isabelle Régner
Mathilde Riant
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Anaïs Robert
Ocyna Rudmann
Camille Sanrey
Arnaud Stanczak
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Farouk Toumani
Emilio Paolo Visintin

Résumé

Do perceptions about one’s competence shape learning, or are they simply reflections of actual skills? This study revisits this longstanding question by replicating and extending preliminary findings by Marsh et al. (2024) on the temporal dynamics linking students’ academic self-concept (i.e., their perceived academic competence) and their academic skills in mathematics and French (language arts). Using longitudinal data from a large-scale field study (N > 9000 students, 3 measurement points), we tested how academic self-concept and skills relate to each other over time. Consistent with Marsh et al., results revealed a consistent temporal asymmetry: Academic skills predicted concurrent changes in self-concept within the same semester (contemporaneous effects), whereas self-concept predicted changes in academic skills across semesters (lagged effects). These findings were robust to several stress tests, including measurement error, unmeasured confounding, and competing models of change. Together, the results are consistent with a renewed theory of learning behavior, in which perceived competence and skills influence each other at different speeds. This temporal asymmetry helps integrate short-term and long-term cognitive-motivational processes in theories of learning behavior. It also underscores the importance of aligning intervention strategies and model specifications with the timescales of the underlying psychological processes, with implications for both fundamental and intervention research.

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Dates et versions

hal-05240850 , version 1 (12-03-2026)
hal-05240850 , version 2 (17-03-2026)

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  • HAL Id : hal-05240850 , version 1

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Fernando Núñez-Regueiro, Herbert W. Marsh, Pascal Pansu, Anatolia Batruch, Marinette Bouet, et al.. I Feel Competent, Therefore I Am: Self-Concept and Skill Interact at Different Speeds. 2026. ⟨hal-05240850v1⟩
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