International macroeconomics: Willem H. Buiter. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1990. 356 pp. $55.00 ISBN 0-19-8286937

Abstract

Educators sometimes extol the works produced by exemplary students as examples for other students to strive toward. Although the principle behind this technique is to elevate the motivation of underperforming students, previous research shows that it may produce the opposite effect and cause students to disengage from the task, resulting in a discouragement-by-exposure-to-peer-excellence effect. The current study's goals were to examine this effect among traditional and nontraditional college students. Participants were first asked to write a short essay responding to a quote. They then read either poorly-written or exemplary essays purportedly written by their peers. Participants were then asked to evaluate the quality of those essays and to compare their essay to that of their peers. They were then offered the opportunity to write a second essay. The results showed that traditional college students were less likely to write another essay if they had previously evaluated exemplary essays relative to poorly-written essays, replicating the discouragement-by-exposure-to-peer-excellence effect. However, the effect was absent among nontraditional college students. These results suggest that educators should be mindful of the potential consequences of using peer assessment when trying to motivate traditional college students.