Superstars and me: Predicting the impact of role models on the self.

Abstract

The authors propose that superstars are most likely to affect self-views when they are considered relevant. Relevant superstars provoke self-enhancement and inspiration when their success seems attainable but self-deflation when it seems unattainable. Participants' self-views were affected only when the star's domain of excellence was self-relevant. Relevant stars provoked self-enhancement and inspiration when their success seemed attainable in that participants either still had enough time to achieve comparable success or believed their own abilities could improve over time. Open-ended responses provided rich evidence of inspiration in these circumstances. Relevant stars provoked, if anything, self-deflation when their success seemed unattainable in that participants either had already missed the chance to achieve comparable success or viewed their abilities as fixed and so unlikely to improve.It is a cultural clich6 that superstars, that is, individuals of outstanding achievement, can serve as role models to others, inspiring and motivating them to do their utmost best. To promote such inspiration, prominent women scientists are often invited to address high school girls, eminent African Americans are introduced to African American children, and outstanding employees are profiled in corporate newsletters and bulletin boards. In the domain of public policy, affirmative action plans are often justified on the grounds that they will create role models who will inspire members of disadvantaged groups. In both the public and private sector, there are countless examples of programs showcasing the talents or successes of a superior individual that are designed to boost the aspirations and selfimages of a particular target group.However, our culture also holds the opposite clich6, that superstars can demoralize and deflate less outstanding others. This notion was brilliantly captured in the movie Amadeus (Forman, 1984) in the image of Salieri, the accomplished musician whose self-view, indeed whose whole life, was shattered by exposure to Mozart's genius. More familiar everyday scripts include the image of the "superwoman" who makes other, less extraordinary women feel incompetent by comparison and the image of the perfectly competent child who is demoralized by a gifted

The acquisition of pedagogical expertise in dance : a constraints-led approach

“…Furthermore, she admired these teachers for respecting the "learning and the learners". These perceptions concerning roleexpectation information and respect for learners suggest similarities concerning pedagogical goals between Veronica and those teachers, and has been reported within the role model literature by Lockwood and Kunda (1997) who suggested that individuals chose role models if they pursued the attainment of similar goals.…”

“…This is the case, for example, of ballet, where role modelling has a strong component in teaching (Gray, 1990;Scheff, 2005); nevertheless, a condition that needs to be fulfilled is for the teacher, as a role model, to be competent in transmitting content (Justi & Gilbert, 2002). Role modelling relationships might include mentoring functions (Carruthers, 1990); however, a critical difference between mentoring and role modelling is that in role modelling, role models might not be aware that they are a role model (Lockwood & Kunda, 1997), whereas in a mentoring relationship both mentor and protégé are aware of their status .…”

“…Overall, role-expectation (Gibson, 2004) and goal similarity (Lockwood & Kunda, 1997) seem to have predisposed Veronica for choosing a particular type of teacher as her role models, teachers who were simultaneously rigorous and flexible (roleexpectation), and were respectful of learners (goal similarity). It would appear that these were the types of teachers who became her role models.…”

Toward a Theory of Engineering Professorial Intentions: The Role of Research Group Experiences

“…From a social comparison perspective, Vince considered Allen a target to emulate. This literature would consider Vince's desire to adjust his behavior to achieve the same acknowledgement Allen received "upward social comparison," whereby an individual may selfenhance behavior to improve both self-evaluations and others' perceptions (Hackett, Esposito, & O'Halloran, 1989;Lockwood & Kunda, 1997). From an alternative, social-cognitive perspective, it could be speculated that the nature of feedback from Professor Houston and "significant others" primed (i.e., triggered implicit understanding in) members to learn what was acceptable and unacceptable.…”

So pretty! The neural correlates of self-other vs familiar-other attractiveness comparisons

“…In fact, contrary to the common view, this drive also entails beneficial effects. Comparing oneself to similar superior others is, notably, one of the motors of self-improvement as it can foster motivation to equal or even surpass the upward standard (Lockwood & Kunda, 1997;Wheeler, 1966). Moreover, people often engage in downward comparisons to feel better about themselves, especially when they feel threatened in their self-esteem (Wills, 1981).…”