Is comparison the thief of joy? Students’ emotions after socially comparing their task grades, influence on their motivation

This paper examines how emotions elicited when students compare their individual performance with that of others affect their motivation to not give up their effort in their class tasks. Data were gathered from students from two different studies. In Study 1, data was obtained from 77 students to explore the influence of social comparisons on motivation to study and the moderator role of the academic situation of the student. Study 2, on the other hand, used a scenario-based approach to explore how 1653 undergraduate students reacted to different relative positions in terms of task grades. In this second study, two path models were designed to explain the expected effort of the students as a function of students' emotions, and in turn students' emotions as a function of task value in two different scenarios: task grades below or above the average. The results show that fostering social comparisons in academic settings influences students' motivation and that the influence of social emotions related to the success or failure of others depends on the relative position of the student in terms of achievement.