Striving for Excellence Sometimes Hinders High Achievers: Performance-Approach Goals Deplete Arithmetical Performance in Students with High Working Memory Capacity

Abstract

We tested whether the goal to attain normative superiority over other students, referred to as performance-approach goals, is particularly distractive for high-Working Memory Capacity (WMC) students—that is, those who are used to being high achievers. Indeed, WMC is positively related to high-order cognitive performance and academic success, a record of success that confers benefits on high-WMC as compared to low-WMC students. We tested whether such benefits may turn out to be a burden under performance-approach goal pursuit. Indeed, for high achievers, aiming to rise above others may represent an opportunity to reaffirm their positive status—a stake susceptible to trigger disruptive outcome concerns that interfere with task processing. Results revealed that with performance-approach goals—as compared to goals with no emphasis on social comparison—the higher the students’ WMC, the lower their performance at a complex arithmetic task (Experiment 1). Crucially, this pattern appeared to be driven by uncertainty regarding the chances to outclass others (Experiment 2). Moreover, an accessibility measure suggested the mediational role played by status-related concerns in the observed disruption of performance. We discuss why high-stake situations can paradoxically lead high-achievers to sub-optimally perform when high-order cognitive performance is at play.

Is This Mine to Keep? Three‐dimensional Printing Enables Active, Personalized Learning in Anatomy

“…Students reported being reticent to make mistakes, indicating high engagement with the creation and learning experience, but also suggesting a high level of anxiety around making mistakes. We did not explore the etiology of this anxiety about making errors; however, others have reported a similar phenomenon in high‐performing students, suggesting that a desire to outperform other students may actually hamper performance (Crouzevialle et al, ). While passive observation of 3D models can help students learn the spatial organization of an anatomical concept, the act of coloring in the resource made this an active learning process stimulating knowledge recall, spatial awareness, and kinesthetic learning (Jensen and Krogh, ).…”

Social-Facilitation-and-Impairment Effects: From Motivation to Cognition and the Social Brain

“…This suggests that performance pressure hinders individuals who are the most qualified to succeed because it consumes a significant part of their executive resources. Crouzevialle, Smeding, and Butera (2015) showed that the disruption of performance in individuals with high WMC depends on how threatening evaluation is (e.g., because of status-related concerns).…”

Performance Goals and Task Performance

“…In follow-up research, the same authors tested whether this performance-approach goal-related interference could be even amplified for high-working memory capacity students, that is, those students who are used to be high achievers. The pursuit of performance-approach goals should indeed represent a high-stakes opportunity to reaffirm their positive status (Crouzevialle, Smeding, & Butera, 2015). The authors manipulated the presence versus absence of a bogus ranking feedback – either average or very high – in order to generate uncertainty versus confidence regarding the chance to subsequently get a high score and outperform others, in other words the expectation of success given their goals (cf., Wigfield & Eccles, 2000).…”