Moderators of the big‐fish‐little‐pond effect in educational settings: A scoping review

Abstract

AbstractThe big‐fish‐little‐pond effect (BFLPE) is the tendency for students to evaluate themselves more favorably when they have high rank in a low rank school than low rank in a high rank school. In this scoping review, we evaluate evidence for several student and teacher factors that have been tested as moderators of the BFLPE. Our synthesis provides initial evidence suggesting that the BFLPE may be stronger for students who are older, reside in WEIRD societies (with some exceptions), female (when tested in the science domain), low in narcissism, and high in neuroticism. Additionally, our synthesis suggests that the effect is weaker when students have positive relationships with their teachers and receive differentiated instruction. We did not find a strong or consistent pattern of moderation when examining student ability, student achievement goals, teacher grading practices, or teacher frame of reference. We conclude by highlighting limitations of the extant literature, moderators that appear most fruitful for additional research, and promising social‐psychological factors that have yet to be tested as moderators of the BFLPE.