Anorexia nervosa: Enhancing motivation to change with self-determination theory.

Motivational deficits (little or no motivation to change) are often reported in patients with eating disorders, particularly anorexia nervosa. The motivational approaches frequently used by French clinicians rely solely on a dichotomous view of motivation (intrinsic vs. extrinsic).

Self-enhancement values and academic achievement: An interaction with students' parental level of education and gender?

Background: We investigated the link between the endorsement of self-enhancement values (e.g., ambition, influence, authority and social power) and school achievement (i.

Peers and teachers as the best source of social support for school engagement for both advantaged and priority education area students.

Promoting student's school engagement is a major goal in our society. The literature has shown that students' proximal sources of social support can play a fundamental role in facilitating this engagement. The purpose of this study was (1) to compare perceived support from four sources (mother, father, teacher, and peers) as a function of two different middle-school student backgrounds, a priority education area and a privileged area; (2) and (3) to examine the contribution of these main sources of social support, either directly or indirectly (through sense of school belonging) to school engagement; and (4) to test whether perceived social support is more strongly related to school engagement, directly or indirectly, among students from priority education school compared to students from the advantaged area.

Dealing with a Crisis: Does Covid-19 Promote Traditional Gender Roles?

The Covid-19 crisis has many characteristics susceptible to emphasize gendered prescriptions. In the present research, we argue that the Covid-19 crisis should promote citizenship behaviors (CB) consistent with gender stereotypes. Two pre-registered experiments were conducted during lockdown in France (Study 1) and United Kingdom (Study 2).

The academic success of boys and girls as an identity issue in gender relations: when the most threatened is not the one expected.

The present research aims to determine whether girls' higher academic achievement, which should grant them a higher academic status than boys, could prevent them from experiencing social-identity threat on this dimension. Because they fear situations questioning their superiority, we argue that an unfavorable intergroup comparison would be more threatening for the high-status, rather than low-status, group on the dimension of academic achievement. Two studies were conducted, respectively, in high school, where girls should represent the high-status group (Study 1), and middle school, where students might perceive their own group as the high-status group (Study 2).

When an academic culture based on self-enhancement values undermines female students' sense of belonging, self-efficacy, and academic choices.

Although overall women are better represented in higher education than men, women's psychological experience in various academic contexts is qualified by a decreased sense of belonging and academic self-efficacy, including in fields where they are not targeted by a negative stereotype. To clarify this phenomenon, we develop the hypothesis of a mismatch between female students' values and the values associated with success in the increasingly selective realm of higher education. We argue that, whatever the fields of study, these values are self-enhancement values (competitiveness, self-affirmation, dominance).

'Where there is a will, there is a way': Belief in school meritocracy and the social-class achievement gap.

Meritocratic ideology can promote system justification and the perpetuation of inequalities. The present research tests whether priming merit in the school context enhances the effect of socioeconomic status (SES) on school achievement. French fifth graders read a text priming either school merit or a neutral content, reported their French and mathematics self-efficacy as well as their belief in school meritocracy (BSM), and then took French and mathematics tests.

Boys, girls, and the school cultural environment: Teachers' judgment and students' values.

Due to gender socialization, girls are more likely to endorse self-transcendence values (e.g., helping people) compared to boys, whereas boys are more likely to endorse self-enhancement values (e.

When School and Family Convey Different Cultural Messages: The Experience of Turkish Minority Group Members in France.

The present studies aim to compare the cultural values promoted by the French educational system and the Turkish families living in France to their youngsters. Because of their collectivist background Turkish immigrants may convey less individualistic values to their children compared to French parents and teachers. However, Turkish students may become more individualistic as they are socialized in the school system.

The feminization of school hypothesis called into question among junior and high school students.

Background: The feminization of school hypothesis suggests that boys underachieve in school compared to girls because school rewards feminine characteristics that are at odds with boys' masculine features.

Aims: The feminization of school hypothesis lacks empirical evidence. The aim of this study was to test this hypothesis by examining the extent to which school demands are actually associated with female more than male students.

Perception of students' intelligence malleability and potential for future success: Unfavourable beliefs towards girls.

Background: Endorsing an entity theory of intelligence has negative effects on students' academic trajectories. Research focused on students' personal theories of intelligence has shown that girls are more likely than boys to hold an entity theory of intelligence. However, no study has examined the possibility of a gender stereotype basis for this belief.

Assessing does not mean threatening: the purpose of assessment as a key determinant of girls' and boys' performance in a science class.

Background: Is it possible to reach performance equality between boys and girls in a science class? Given the stereotypes targeting their groups in scientific domains, diagnostic contexts generally lower girls' performance and non-diagnostic contexts may harm boys' performance.

Aim: The present study tested the effectiveness of a mastery-oriented assessment, allowing both boys and girls to perform at an optimal level in a science class.

Sample: Participants were 120 boys and 72 girls (all high-school students).

What is the best model for girls and boys faced with a standardized mathematics evaluation situation: a hardworking role model or a gifted role model?

Same-gender role models are likely to improve girls' math performance. This field experiment examined whether the explanation given for a role model's success also influence children's math performance. Fifth graders were presented with a female or a male role model before a difficult math test and were informed about the cause of his/her math success (effort vs.

Being outperformed in an intergroup context: the relationship between group status and self-protective strategies.

The present study examines the effects of group status on self-esteem when individuals are outperformed by an in-group target (Experiments 1 and 2) or an out-group (Experiment 2). The main aim was to examine different self-protective mechanisms when the current standing of the in-group vis-à-vis another group is either unfavourable (low status) or favourable (high status). Experiment 1 showed that when outperformed by an in-group target, the members of a low status group reported higher self-esteem than members of a high status group.

Culture, gender, and the self: variations and impact of social comparison processes.

Psychological differences between women and men, far from being invariant as a biological explanation would suggest, fluctuate in magnitude across cultures. Moreover, contrary to the implications of some theoretical perspectives, gender differences in personality, values, and emotions are not smaller, but larger, in American and European cultures, in which greater progress has been made toward gender equality. This research on gender differences in self-construals involving 950 participants from 5 nations/cultures (France, Belgium, the Netherlands, the United States, and Malaysia) illustrates how variations in social comparison processes across cultures can explain why gender differences are stronger in Western cultures.

Social comparison, self-stereotyping, and gender differences in self-construals.

Four studies examined gender differences in self-construals and the role of social comparison in generating these differences. Consistent with previous research, Study 1 (N=461) showed that women define themselves as higher in relational interdependence than men, and men define themselves as higher in independence/agency than women. Study 2 (N=301) showed that within-gender social comparison decreases gender differences in self-construals relative to a control condition, whereas between-genders comparison increases gender differences on both relational interdependence and independence/agency.