WHAT YOUNG-PEOPLE WANT TO KNOW WHEN - EFFECTS OF MASTERY AND ABILITY GOALS ON INTEREST IN DIFFERENT KINDS OF SOCIAL COMPARISONS

Integrating developments in social comparison and achievement theories suggested that ability goals will promote ability-appraisal and self-serving functions of social comparison and that mastery goals will enhance interest in social comparisons that can promote learning. A novel design let Ss choose between different kinds of social information. Seventy-eight Israeli 6th graders performed a task in a mastery or ability goal condition and then examined tables providing social information relevant to learning about the task, to normative ability assessment, or to identifying their personal style. As predicted, mastery Ss spent longer at the task table than ability Ss, who spent longer at the normative table, especially if they had performed well. Goal conditions also affected relations between time at the normative table and perceived competence and interest in the task. Implications of this framework and methodology for social comparison theory are discussed.