Big-fish–little-pond effect

People feel better about themselves when they are more obviously superior
The big fish–little pond effect (BFLPE) is a frame of reference model introduced by Herbert W. Marsh and John W. Parker in 1984. According to the model, individuals compare their own self concept with their peers and equally capable individuals have higher self concepts when in a less capable group than in a more capable group. For example, it is better for academic self concept to be a big fish in a little pond (gifted student in regular reference group) than to be a big fish in a big pond (gifted student in gifted reference group). High achieving and gifted students are just as susceptible to the effect as are less talented students indicating that the effect depends only on the achievement of the reference group. Malcolm Gladwell publicized the BFLPE in his 2013 book David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants. Higher academic self concept (ASC) has been shown to predict future performance and achievement. Marsh and O'Mara (2008) demonstrated that academic self concept among 10th graders was a better predictor of their educational attainments five years after high school graduation than their school grades, standardized test scores, intelligence, and socioeconomic status. Liem, Marsh, Martin, McInerney, and Yeung (2004) showed that positive academic self concepts were associated with better educational outcomes 10 years later—evidence that ASC can have long lasting effects. Conversely, contrast effects occur when the target of comparison is excluded from the mental representation of the self or viewed as distinct from the self.

When forming academic self concept (ASC), the question arises of classroom friend achievement or class achievement having a larger effect. One hypothesis suggests that friend average achievement has the larger effect. This is known as the friend dominance hypothesis and is consistent with the local dominance effect model. The local dominance effect model posits that people tend to rely on the most local comparison source when there are multiple comparison sources available. Friends are considered a more local source for comparison than classmates, so this indicates that friends should have a larger effect on ASC than classmates. An alternative hypothesis suggests that class average achievement has a larger effect on ASC than friend average achievement. Several studies support this hypothesis. The first showed that individuals showed stronger assimilation effects toward their comparison target when they were part of a group or when they focused on emotional bonding. The hypothesis that class average achievement has the larger effect has garnered the most support. Wouters, Colpin, Van Damme, De Laet, and Verschueren (2013) compared the effects of friend average achievement and class average achievement on global academic, math, and language self concept. This suggests that the assimilation process might be stronger for these individuals. However, the moderating effects of these variables are relatively small.

Goal setting moderates the BFLPE. Individuals who set higher achievement goals, regardless of the specific nature of the goals, typically experience a stronger BFLPE.

Several classroom practices were explored as possible moderators of the BFLPE, including the use of individualized assessment tasks, criterion and self referenced feedback, and reinforcement of peer identification. The size of the effect of each of these moderators was found to be either small or non significant across many studies. Chang and Lam (2007) manipulated students so that they were either in direct competition with each other or working together in groups to accomplish a common task. Direct competition with classmates increased the BFLPE while working with other classmates in a group to achieve a goal attenuated the BFLPE. Another experiment found that the big fish little pond phenomenon has a moderator of the students age. BFLPE is stronger in those in high school and weaker in those who are in middle school and college. The weakest BFLPE are in those who are in elementary or primary school. It is argued that this is because in high school, academic tracking leads to breaking up students into classes ranked on competency. It is also because the students in high school are in a time in their life that they are gaining the most self awareness.

Self construal has been shown to have moderating effects on social comparison. Researchers hypothesized that individuals with highly independent self construals would experience accentuated contrast effects while individuals with highly interdependent self construals would experience strengthened assimilation effects. This hypothesis was based on Schwarz and Bless's 1992 inclusion/exclusion model of judgment. The results of the experiment supported Kemmelmeier and Oyserman's hypothesis, demonstrating that self construal moderates social comparison effects like the BFLPE.

Overall, there are few moderators of the BFLPE, and they mostly have small effect sizes. They have only been shown to alter the strength of the BFLPE, not to reverse its direction. However, moderators of the BFLPE continue to be an active area of research because of their theoretical implications. Identifying moderators may help to discover the psychological mechanism underlying the BFLPE. From a practical perspective, a more thorough understanding of the moderators of the BFLPE could lead to the development and implementation of educational policies that less the negative impacts or enhance the positive effects of the BFLPE.

The BFLPE has been intensely studied across different countries, cultural contexts, and school systems, and it appears to be generalizable across each. In fact, it has been so generalizable that Marjorie Seaton referred to it as a panhuman theory. The BFLPE appears to be generalizable across most age groups too. Roy, Guy, and Valois (2015) showed the BFLPE in a group of 8 to 12 year old students. Marsh and Hau (2003) found the effect in 26 different countries, thus demonstrating the cross cultural generalizability of the effect. Researchers initially hypothesized that the BFLPE would be moderated by socioeconomic status. However, SES does not appear to moderate the BFLPE despite students from higher SES backgrounds having slightly higher math self concepts in a 2010 study conducted by Seaton, Marsh, and Craven. In sports psychology, physical self concept is considered both a valued outcome variable and a mediating variable that facilitates the attainment of other valued outcomes like physical skills, health related physical fitness, physical activity, exercise adherence in non elite settings, and improved performance in elite sports. Marsh, Morin, and Parker (2015) demonstrated that the BFLPE exists with regard to physical concept. The study showed that class average physical ability in physical fitness was negatively associated with physical self concept.

The relative year in school effect (RYiSE) is a frame of reference effect analogous to the big fish little pond effect. Both the RYiSE and the BFLPE suggest that academic self concept are formed in relation to those of other students in the school. While the BFLPE demonstrates specifically that class average achievement is negatively related to academic self concept (ASC), the RYiSE shows the effects of being one or more years ahead, or one or more years behind same age classmates. The social comparison theoretical models underlying the BFLPE seem to underlie the RYiSE too. In line with this model the effects of acceleration (starting early or skipping grades) on ASC should be negative while the effects of retention (starting late or repeating grades) on ASC should be positive. Marsh (2016) was the first to provide empirical support for the RYiSE as analogous to the BFLPE, based on the same underlying social comparison theory and frame of reference effects. The study showed that the RYiSE seems to be similarly generalizable too, reporting generalizability across 41 countries and across a host of individual student characteristics considered possible moderators of the RYiSE.

Academic self concepts (ASCs) are also a factor in motivation theory. Two leading motivation theorists include ASC as one of their principles of motivation. Competence beliefs have been shown to affect the value people assign to tasks. If a person is good at a particular task, he or she is more likely to enjoy it than they would be if they were not competent.