The 2I/E Model: Integrating Temporal Comparisons into the I/E Model ("TIME")

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Fabian Wolff
• Subject Area: Developmental and Educational Psychology ; General and Domain-Specific Teaching and Learning
• Term: from 2019 to 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 422507547

The internal/external frame of reference (I/E) model (Marsh, 1986) describes the development of domain-specific academic self-concepts by the joint operation of social comparisons (i.e. students compare their achievement in a subject with the achievement of their classmates in the same subject) and dimensional comparisons (i.e. students compare their achievement in a subject with their achievement in another subject). However, students’ academic self-concepts are also formed by temporal comparisons (i.e. students compare their achievement in a subject with their prior achievement in this subject), which were rather neglected in prior self-concept research. Therefore, Wolff and colleagues introduced an extension of the classical I/E model, the 2I/E model, which considers temporal comparisons as a third comparison process affecting students’ self-concepts. The 2I/E model distinguishes between students’ subject-specific achievement levels and achievement changes as predictors of their subject-specific self-concepts. Paths from achievement levels to self-concepts in the same subject are assumed to represent social comparison effects, paths from achievement levels to self-concepts in another subject are assumed to represent dimensional comparison effects, and paths from achievement changes to self-concepts in the same subject are assumed to represent temporal comparison effects. So far, the validity of the 2I/E model has been demonstrated in ten empirical studies, usually with strong positive social comparison paths, moderate negative dimensional comparison paths (between dissimilar subjects), and small positive temporal comparison paths. However, some important questions on the 2I/E model and the joint effects of social, dimensional, and temporal comparisons on academic self-concept are still open, especially regarding the effects of temporal comparisons. Accordingly, this project aims to provide deeper insights into the interplay of social, dimensional, and temporal comparisons in the process of self-concept formation with a special focus on temporal comparisons. Altogether, three empirical studies will be conducted: Firstly, a longitudinal field study will examine the relations of the 2I/E model for different comparison periods, while including moderators assumed to affect the temporal comparison paths, and when self-concepts are inferred by students’ teachers. Secondly, a longitudinal experimental study will examine whether the 2I/E model relations replicate when students receive manipulated feedback regarding their achievements in two ability tests from three measurement points. Finally, a diary study will examine social, dimensional, and temporal comparisons in students’ everyday lives. In the long run, the results of all three studies should contribute to the development of a comprehensive comparison theory.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• Co-Investigators: Dr. Friederike Helm; Professor Dr. Jens Möller