Positive biases in self-assessment of mathematics competence, achievement goals, and mathematics performance
Résumé
The study examined how biases in self-evaluations of math competence relate to
achievement goals and progress in math achievement. It was expected that performance
goals would be related to overestimation and mastery goals to accurate self-assessments. A
sample of French high-school students completed a questionnaire measuring their math
achievement goals and their perceived competence in math. Students’ math grades for the
three trimesters of the school year were collected from school records. Bias in selfevaluations
was computed by comparing students’ rating on the ‘perceived competence in
math’ scale with their actual math achievement as measured by their second trimester math
grades. Students were classified into one of three groups (over-raters, accurate raters, or
under-raters) depending on whether their self-perceptions of competence in math were
higher than, similar to, or lower than their relative math achievement in their class. As
expected, overrating of one’s performance was related to performance goals. Furthermore,
the over-raters were the only group who progressed in their math achievement from
Trimester 2 to 3. No relation was found between mastery goals and accurate self-assessment.