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Dr Marjorie Seaton
Marjorie Seaton has an MA in French and History from Glasgow University (UK), and a BA (Psychology Honours) from Macquarie University, Australia, where she was awarded a prestigious honours scholarship for academic excellence and a first class honours degree for her thesis in social comparison. She completed her PhD at the University of Western Sydney in 2008. The main focus of Marjorie’s PhD research was the big-fish-little-pond effect (BFLPE), whereby students in high-ability schools have lower academic self-concepts than equally able students in average- and low-ability schools. Marjorie is currently involved as an ARC postdoctoral fellow in studying ways in which to maximise the potential of high-ability young Australians. This research aims to improve Australia’s capacity to educate high-ability students by investigating the impact of different settings on their educational outcomes and psychosocial wellbeing. Marjorie is also a trained teacher, who has had commercial experience both in Australia and overseas.
Qualifications
MA (Glasgow), DipT (Jordanhill), GradDip (Macquarie), BA (Macquarie), PhD (UWS)
Award
2009 AARE Award for Doctoral Research in Education for her thesis "The Big-Fish-Little-Pond Effect under the grill: tests of its universality, a search for moderators and the role of social comparison".
Grant
Current Position
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Centre for Positive Psychollogy and Education, University of Western Sydney
Thesis Title
Abstract
Big-fish-little-pond effect (BFLPE) research has demonstrated that students in high-ability environments have lower academic self-concepts than equally able students in low-ability settings. Low academic self-concepts are associated with negative educational outcomes. This thesis aimed to extend current BFLPE theory and research by: (a) testing the BFLPE’s external validity and universality across 41 countries; (b) testing whether the BFLPE is evident in developing and collectivist countries; (c) investigating constructs that have the potential to moderate the BFLPE; (d) elucidating whether upward social comparisons moderate or co-exist with the BFLPE to resolve a conflict in the literature; (e) critically analysing the relation between social comparison processes and the BFLPE to further inform theory; and (f) testing whether the BFLPE varies as a function of ability. Three studies were conducted to achieve these aims. Results indicated that the BFLPE was externally valid and universally applicable, and was not moderated by selected social comparisons. Results also provided evidence that the BFLPE and social comparison theories could be integrated. Although more anxious students suffered more from the BFLPE, results regarding BFLPE moderators provided support for the generalizability of the BFLPE and suggest that students are more similar than different in relation to the BFLPE.
Thesis submission date
2008
Selected Publications
Book Chapters
Seaton, M., Craven, R.G. & Marsh, H.W. (2008) East Meets West: An Examination of the Big-Fish-Little-Pond effect in Western and non-Western countries, in H.W. Marsh, R. Craven, & D. McInerney (Eds) Self-Processes, Learning and Enabling Human Potential: Dynamic New Approaches. International Advances in Self Research, Volume 3, Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.
Journal Articles
Jackman, K., Wilson, I.G., Seaton, M. & Craven, R. (2011) Big fish in a big pond: A study of academic self-concept in first year medical students. BMC Medical Education, 11(48).
Seaton, M., Marsh, H.W., Yeung, A. & Craven, R.G. (2011) The big fish Down Under: Examining moderators of the Big-Fish-Little-Pond effect for Australia's high achievers. Australian Journal of Education, 55(2), 5-26.
Marsh, H.W., Seaton, M., Kuyper, H., Dumas, F., Huguet, P., Regner, I., Buunk, B.P., Monteil, J. & Gibbons, F. (2010) Phantom behavioral assimilation effects: Systematic biases in social comparison choice studies. Journal of Personality, 78(2), 671-710.
Seaton, M., Marsh, H.W. & Craven, R.G. (2010) Big-Fish-Little-Pond-Effect: Generalizability and Moderation - Two Sides of the Same Coin. American Educational Research Journal, 47(2), 390-433.
Bodkin-Andrews, G.H., Seaton, M., Nelson, G.F. Craven, R.G. & Yeung, A.S. (2010) Questioning the General Self-Esteem Vaccine: General Self-Esteem, Racial Discrimination, and Standardised Achievement across Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Students. Australian Journal of Guidance and Counselling, 10(1), 1-21.
Seaton, M., Marsh, H.W. & Craven, R.G. (2009) Earning its place as a pan-human theory: Universality of the Big-Fish-Little-Pond effect (BFLPE) across 41 culturally and economically diverse countries. Journal of Educational Psychology, 101(2), 403-419.
Huguet, P., Dumas, F., Marsh, H.W., Regner, I., Wheeler, L., Suls, J., Seaton, M. & Nezlek, J. (2009) Clarifying the role of social comparison in the Big-Fish-Little-Pond effect (BFLPE): An integrative study. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 97, 156-170.
Dixon, R.M. & Seaton, M. (2008) The big fish strikes again, but in a different place: Social comparison theory and children with special needs. International Journal of the Humanities, 5(12), 151-157.
Marsh, H.W., Seaton, M., Trautwein, U., Lüdtke, O., Hau, K.T., O’Mara, A.J. & Craven, R.G. (2008) The Big-Fish-Little-Pond effect stands up to critical scrutiny: Implications for theory, methodology, and future research. Educational Psychological Review, 20, 319-350.
Seaton, M., Marsh, H.W., Dumas, F., Huguet, P., Monteil, J., Regner, I., Blanton, H., Buunk, B.P., Gibbons, F., Kuyper, H., Suls, J. & Wheeler, L. (2008) In search of the big fish: Investigating the coexistence of the Big-Fish-Little-Pond effect with the positive effects of upward comparisons. British Journal of Social Psychology, 47, 73-103.
