Academic self-concept in the classroom setting: Big-fish-little-pond effect

Abstract

Recently, researchers studying self-concepts have emphasized the significance of frames of reference. The same academic achievement can lead to disparate academic self-concepts, depending on the frame of reference or standard of comparison that the individuals involved use to evaluate themselves. The present article reviews research done in classroom settings on self-concepts about academics, specifically the "big-fish-little-pond" effect. Marsh (1987) proposed the big-fish-little-pond effect (BFLPE) in an educational context, in an attempt to encapsulate frame-of-reference effects posited in social comparison theory. Marsh (1987) reported that when the effect of individual achievement was controlled for, the direct effect of school-average ability on academic self-concept was negative. The big-fish-little-pond effect posits that students in academically selective schools or classrooms experience lower academic self-concepts than equally able students in less academically selective schools or classrooms. Based on the present integrative literature review, implications for research on the big-fish-little-pond effect were discussed.