Social comparison choices in the classroom: further evidence for students' upward comparison tendency and its beneficial impact on performance

Blanton and colleagues ( 1999 ) found that children who nominated a comparison‐target in several courses chose same‐sex students who slightly outperformed them in class. This had a beneficial effect on children's course grades, which were also independently predicted by comparative evaluation (i.e. how the children evaluated their relative standing in class). These phenomena were examined at two time periods with a more detailed record of...