Investigating social comparison behaviour in an immersive virtual reality classroom based on eye-movement data
(2023) In Scientific Reports 13.- Abstract
Higher-achieving peers have repeatedly been found to negatively impact students' evaluations of their own academic abilities (i.e., Big-Fish-Little-Pond Effect). Building on social comparison theory, this pattern is assumed to result from students comparing themselves to their classmates; however, based on existing research designs, it remains unclear how exactly students make use of social comparison information in the classroom. To determine the extent to which students (N = 353 sixth graders) actively attend and respond to social comparison information in the form of peers' achievement-related behaviour, we used eye-tracking data from an immersive virtual reality (IVR) classroom. IVR classrooms offer unprecedented opportunities for... (More)
Higher-achieving peers have repeatedly been found to negatively impact students' evaluations of their own academic abilities (i.e., Big-Fish-Little-Pond Effect). Building on social comparison theory, this pattern is assumed to result from students comparing themselves to their classmates; however, based on existing research designs, it remains unclear how exactly students make use of social comparison information in the classroom. To determine the extent to which students (N = 353 sixth graders) actively attend and respond to social comparison information in the form of peers' achievement-related behaviour, we used eye-tracking data from an immersive virtual reality (IVR) classroom. IVR classrooms offer unprecedented opportunities for psychological classroom research as they allow to integrate authentic classroom scenarios with maximum experimental control. In the present study, we experimentally varied virtual classmates' achievement-related behaviour (i.e., their hand-raising in response to the teacher's questions) during instruction, and students' eye and gaze data showed that they actively processed this social comparison information. Students who attended more to social comparison information (as indicated by more frequent and longer gaze durations at peer learners) had less favourable self-evaluations. We discuss implications for the future use of IVR environments to study behaviours in the classroom and beyond.
(Less)
- author
- Hasenbein, Lisa ; Stark, Philipp LU ; Trautwein, Ulrich ; Gao, Hong LU ; Kasneci, Enkelejda and Göllner, Richard
- publishing date
- 2023-09-06
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Animals, Humans, Social Comparison, Social Behavior, Interpersonal Relations, Students, Virtual Reality
- in
- Scientific Reports
- volume
- 13
- article number
- 14672
- publisher
- Nature Publishing Group
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85169998953
- pmid:37673939
- ISSN
- 2045-2322
- DOI
- 10.1038/s41598-023-41704-2
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- no
- additional info
- © 2023. Springer Nature Limited.
- id
- 4d30db94-05ea-4d0e-93b0-7c9fd5551f47
- date added to LUP
- 2024-10-15 08:39:08
- date last changed
- 2025-07-10 15:54:34
@article{4d30db94-05ea-4d0e-93b0-7c9fd5551f47,
abstract = {{<p>Higher-achieving peers have repeatedly been found to negatively impact students' evaluations of their own academic abilities (i.e., Big-Fish-Little-Pond Effect). Building on social comparison theory, this pattern is assumed to result from students comparing themselves to their classmates; however, based on existing research designs, it remains unclear how exactly students make use of social comparison information in the classroom. To determine the extent to which students (N = 353 sixth graders) actively attend and respond to social comparison information in the form of peers' achievement-related behaviour, we used eye-tracking data from an immersive virtual reality (IVR) classroom. IVR classrooms offer unprecedented opportunities for psychological classroom research as they allow to integrate authentic classroom scenarios with maximum experimental control. In the present study, we experimentally varied virtual classmates' achievement-related behaviour (i.e., their hand-raising in response to the teacher's questions) during instruction, and students' eye and gaze data showed that they actively processed this social comparison information. Students who attended more to social comparison information (as indicated by more frequent and longer gaze durations at peer learners) had less favourable self-evaluations. We discuss implications for the future use of IVR environments to study behaviours in the classroom and beyond.</p>}},
author = {{Hasenbein, Lisa and Stark, Philipp and Trautwein, Ulrich and Gao, Hong and Kasneci, Enkelejda and Göllner, Richard}},
issn = {{2045-2322}},
keywords = {{Animals; Humans; Social Comparison; Social Behavior; Interpersonal Relations; Students; Virtual Reality}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{09}},
publisher = {{Nature Publishing Group}},
series = {{Scientific Reports}},
title = {{Investigating social comparison behaviour in an immersive virtual reality classroom based on eye-movement data}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-41704-2}},
doi = {{10.1038/s41598-023-41704-2}},
volume = {{13}},
year = {{2023}},
}