Explaining how honors students position themselves when collaborating with regular students

Paper presentatie tijdens de EARLI Conference 2015, Limassol, Cypres, 28 augustus.

In this line of research we take a social psychological approach to understanding how honors students position themselves when collaborating with regular students. More specifically, we explore whether stereotypes about honors students as well as inclusion goals affect the extent to which honors students adapt to group norms in terms of ambition, motivation and excellence or take a more leading role when working with regular students. Results of a small more qualitative pilot study (N = 14) show that honors students indeed tend to behave differently by either adapting to the group of regular students or by taking the lead/control. Further the main reasons provided for this are preventing disharmony and delivering high quality work. Results of a larger survey study show that honors students (N = 106) are more likely to take a leading role when they feel valued by the group in terms of competence and inclusion. Further, regular students’ (N = 729) attitude to such a role is particularly negative when they do not want to include honors students and sense that honors students do not want to be included. Results are discussed in terms of its effects on creating a culture of excellence via honors programs within higher education and provide insights in how to improve the interaction between honors and regular students.