Towards a Temporal Comparison Theory of Academic Self-Concept Formation (“TIME”)

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Fabian Wolff
• Subject Area: Developmental and Educational Psychology ; General and Domain-Specific Teaching and Learning
• Term: since 2019
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 422507547

In recent decades, the impact of social comparisons (where students compare their achievements with those of other students) and dimensional comparisons (where students compare their achievements in different school subjects) on the formation of academic self-concepts has been intensively researched. In contrast, temporal comparisons (where students compare their current achievements with their previous achievements) have received relatively little attention in educational-psychological self-concept research to date. However, with the 2I/E model, Wolff et al. (2019) developed an extension of the classic internal/external frame of reference model that considers temporal comparisons as a third comparison process alongside social and dimensional comparisons in the formation of academic self-concepts. Based on the 2I/E model, in the first phase of the TIME project, the impact of temporal comparisons on the formation of academic self-concepts was investigated in various studies using different methodological approaches. However, although these studies yielded a large number of important findings, there are still key research gaps regarding the role of temporal comparisons in the formation of academic self-concepts. In view of the goal of postulating a temporal comparison theory of academic self-concept formation, these research gaps will be closed in the second phase of the TIME project. Specifically, it will be examined whether the existence of temporal comparison effects in experiments in which students receive manipulated feedback regarding their achievements in two parts of an ability test depends on whether the students are secondary school or university students, whether they receive the feedback after completing each part of the test and/or whether they receive information between completing the test parts on how they can improve their achievement in the second part (Study 1). In addition, data from a two-year longitudinal study conducted in the first project phase will be analysed to find out whether students make temporal comparisons with their actual or subjectively biased achievements (Study 2), whether the strength of temporal comparison effects depends on how much effort students invest in a school subject (Study 3), whether temporal comparisons affect students’ self-concepts even after the effects of criterial comparisons (here: whether students reach their achievement goals) are controlled for (Study 4), and whether temporal comparisons also affect students’ intrinsic values and whether these effects (if they exist) may be mediated by their self-concepts (Study 5). At the end of the project, the temporal comparison theory of academic self-concept formation will be postulated, which is largely based on the findings of the TIME project.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• Co-Investigator: Professor Dr. Jens Möller