Can Social Comparison Alter the Impact of Socio-Cognitive Conflict on Academic Performance?

Abstract

Many tasks in today’s society are performed in groups, and teamwork is common in educational systems at all levels. While it has been shown to have many benefits, previous research has demonstrated that it may not always work to the advantage of every student. Two underexposed facets of teamwork are that team members have many opportunities to face conflicts and compare themselves with teammates. Socio-Cognitive conflict occurs when individuals are confronted with different ideas that other group members embrace. Social comparison can be defined as the process of thinking about information about one or more other people in relation to the self. In this study, we examined the interactive influence of socio-cognitive conflict and social comparison on academic performance. The findings showed that the positive learning effects of socio-cognitive conflicts were strengthened when there were upward-identifying comparisons. We concluded that the social comparison was important to consider when designing socio-cognitive conflicts teamwork because of its constructive and destructive consequences.

Publication Title

CEUR Workshop Proceedings

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