Céline Darnon
Biographic Data
| ID | 1584055 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Céline Darnon |
| GIVEN NAMES | Céline |
| FAMILY NAME | Darnon |
| SIGNATURE | DARNON C |
| AFFILIATIONS | Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-2613-689X |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 33 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 111 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 33 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2004 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 7 |
I Feel Competent, Therefore I Am: Self-concept and Skill Interact at Different Speeds
Do perceptions about one’s competence shape learning, or are they simply reflections of actual skills? This study revisits this longstanding question by replicating and extending preliminary findings by Marsh et al. (2024) on the temporal dynamics linking students’ academic self-concept (i.e., their perceived academic competence) and their academic skills. Using longitudinal data from a large-scale field study (N > 9000 students, 3 measurement po…
Why the belief in meritocracy is so pervasive
People worldwide tend to believe that their societies are more meritocratic than they actually are. We propose the belief in meritocracy is widespread because it is rooted in simple, seemingly obvious causal-explanatory intuitions. Our proposal suggests solutions for debunking the myth of meritocracy and increasing support for equity-oriented policies.
When bears are bearing number acquisition: An early mathematical intervention for kindergarten children
Education-based affective attitudes: Higher educated-bias is related to more political trust and less populism
Backlash among the dominant: Assessing support for elitism in four European countries
In recent decades, populism has gained momentum in many Western countries and has increased the salience of the category “the people” in contemporary politics. This success of populist politics may evoke a backlash effect among more dominant groups in general, and the higher educated in particular, potentially triggering support for elitism. Based on preregistered analyses of survey data from four countries (the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, D…
Valeur économique des diplômes: Impacts Psychologiques Et Implications Sur Le Décrochage Et Les Inégalités De Réussite Dans L’enseignement Supérieur
En France, et dans la plupart des pays de l’OCDE, il existe des inégalités économiques entre les différentes positions sociales (salaire, qualité de vie...) et la répartition des individus dans ces positions inégales est en grande partie déterminée par le diplôme obtenu. En résulte une pression à la poursuite d’études : beaucoup d’étudiant·es se pressent dans les formations les plus valorisées possibles et sont sélectionné·es (ou non) à l’issue d…
Cooperative learning reduces the gender gap in perceived social competences: A large-scale nationwide longitudinal experiment
Considering the evolving and unpredictable job market, adaptability is an important skill for young adults. Such adaptability implies that schools need to teach key social competences, like communication, collaboration, or problem-solving. In this area, a gender gap has consistently been found, showing that boys display social competences less than girls. A large-scale nationwide multilab longitudinal experiment—the ProFAN project—was conducted i…
Selection and the economic value of education: A barrier to reducing the SES achievement gap
Due to the role that schools play in determining the status of the future occupations of their children (i.e., the selection function of education), high socioeconomic status (SES) parents may not always be supportive of interventions that would reduce the SES achievement gap. In four experiments, we measured the support of parents ( N total = 1966) for implementing an equalizing (and, in Experiments 2 and 3, an inequality‐maintaining) interventi…
Belief in School Meritocracy and the Legitimization of Social and Income Inequality
Educational institutions are imbued with an institutional meritocratic discourse: only merit counts for academic success. In this article, we study whether this institutional belief has an impact beyond its primary function of encouraging students to study. We propose that belief in school meritocracy has broader societal impact by legitimizing the social class hierarchy it produces and encouraging the maintenance of inequalities. The results of …
Competitive and cooperative practices in education: How teachers’ beliefs in school meritocracy are related to their daily practices with students
Delivering mindset interventions to teachers as an efficient way to leverage the impact of mindset interventions
Research in social psychology and education proposes that adopting a growth mindset of intelligence is an important mediator for the well-being and performance of students at school. As a consequence, wise interventions have been developed to target student mindsets and change their beliefs about how much their intelligence can grow with training and experience. However, the efficacy of mindset interventions is highly debated, as effect sizes var…
Self-enhancement values and academic achievement: An interaction with students' parental level of education and gender
BackgroundWe investigated the link between the endorsement of self-enhancement values (e.g., ambition, influence, authority and social power) and school achievement (i.e., grades).AimAdopting an intersectional framework, we argued that the link may be qualified by both students' gender and their parents' education level. We hypothesized that depending on students' different experiences in the school system as a function of their gender and their …
Can an early mathematical intervention boost the progress of children in kindergarten? A field experiment
Do jigsaw classrooms improve learning outcomes? Five experiments and an internal meta-analysis
International audience
Economic insecurity and compliance with the Covid‐19 restrictions
The present research investigates economic insecurity as one potential determinant of citizens' compliance with restrictive policies implemented to combat the spread of the COVID‐19 virus. Two pre‐registered studies ( N Study 1 = 305; N Study 2 = 175) were conducted in France during the second and the third wave of the pandemic to test correlational (Study 1) and causal (Study 2) links between economic insecurity, perceived constraints, and trans…
A multilevel account of social value‐related reasons behind mastery goals
BACKGROUND: A growing literature focuses on reasons behind achievement goal endorsement, and mastery-approach goals (MG) specifically, and how these reasons influence academic performance. Past research provides evidence that student-level social value-related reasons behind MG moderate the MG-performance link in adolescents and young adults. However, we ignore whether this moderation is best conceived of as a student-level effect (i.e., students…
Turning the gender tables: Evidence of students’ awareness of a reversal in gender status between academic and occupational contexts
Why lockdown and distance learning during the Covid-19 pandemic are likely to increase the social class achievement gap
Are performance–avoidance goals always deleterious for academic achievement in college? The moderating role of social class
Examining the role of perceived prestige in the link between students’ subjective socioeconomic status and sense of belonging
Low socioeconomic status (SES) students have a lower sense of belonging to college than high-SES students. Due to the importance of sense of belonging in the college pathway, understanding the reason for this relation is particularly important. Here, we argue that in addition to having less access to resources, low-SES students in the college context also perceive themselves as having lower prestige than their high-SES counterparts. Thus, in the …
Belief in school meritocracy as an ideological barrier to the promotion of equality
In the educational system, social inequalities are reproduced and legitimated. As a consequence, the implementation of interventions that reduce the SES achievement gap in education may face important ideological barriers. The purpose of the present article is to test the belief in school meritocracy as one of these barriers. In three studies, participants' willingness to see an equalizing pedagogical intervention implemented in one's own univers…
Doing better (or worse) than one's parents: Social status, mobility, and performance-avoidance goals
BackgroundPrevious research has shown that, when succeeding in higher education, first-generation (FG) students endorse more performance-avoidance goals (i.e., the fear of performing poorly) than continuing-generation (CG) students.AimsIn this study, individual mobility is examined as a predictor of performance-avoidance goal endorsement. It is argued that FG students endorse more these goals than CG students because in higher education, the form…
The Experience of Low‐SES Students in Higher Education: Psychological Barriers to Success and Interventions to Reduce Social‐Class Inequality
The economic decline of the Great Recession has increased the need for a university degree, which can enhance individuals’ prospects of obtaining employment in a competitive, globalized market. Research in the social sciences has consistently demonstrated that students with low socioeconomic status (SES) have fewer opportunities to succeed in university contexts compared to students with high SES. The present article reviews the psychological bar…
The social utility of performance-approach goals in a selective educational environment
From social class to self-efficacy: Internalization of low social status pupils’ school performance
The Experience of Low‐SES Students in Higher Education: Psychological Barriers to Success and Interventions to Reduce Social‐Class Inequality
The economic decline of the Great Recession has increased the need for a university degree, which can enhance individuals’ prospects of obtaining employment in a competitive, globalized market. Research in the social sciences has consistently demonstrated that students with low socioeconomic status (SES) have fewer opportunities to succeed in university contexts compared to students with high SES. The present article reviews the psychological bar…
Why lockdown and distance learning during the Covid-19 pandemic are likely to increase the social class achievement gap
From social class to self-efficacy: Internalization of low social status pupils’ school performance
Belief in school meritocracy as an ideological barrier to the promotion of equality
In the educational system, social inequalities are reproduced and legitimated. As a consequence, the implementation of interventions that reduce the SES achievement gap in education may face important ideological barriers. The purpose of the present article is to test the belief in school meritocracy as one of these barriers. In three studies, participants' willingness to see an equalizing pedagogical intervention implemented in one's own univers…
Achievement goal promotion at university: Social desirability and social utility of mastery and performance goals
The present research examines the ambivalence of achievement goal promotion at university, and more specifically in the psychology curriculum. On the one hand, psychology teachers explicitly encourage mastery but not performance (neither approach nor avoidance) goals. On the other hand, the selection process encourages the endorsement of not only mastery but also performance-approach goals. In fact, it would seem that both performance-approach an…
Conflict Elaboration and Cognitive Outcomes
This article presents advice for teachers about using sociocognitive conflicts to promote academic learning. In doing so, the conditions under which sociocognitive conflicts are constructive or disruptive are examined and the relevant research is reviewed on social development, cooperative learning, and social influence. Two types of conflict elaboration—epistemic and relational—are identified. Epistemic elaborations focus students on task resolu…
Examining the role of perceived prestige in the link between students’ subjective socioeconomic status and sense of belonging
Low socioeconomic status (SES) students have a lower sense of belonging to college than high-SES students. Due to the importance of sense of belonging in the college pathway, understanding the reason for this relation is particularly important. Here, we argue that in addition to having less access to resources, low-SES students in the college context also perceive themselves as having lower prestige than their high-SES counterparts. Thus, in the …
Education-based affective attitudes: Higher educated-bias is related to more political trust and less populism
Doing better (or worse) than one's parents: Social status, mobility, and performance-avoidance goals
BackgroundPrevious research has shown that, when succeeding in higher education, first-generation (FG) students endorse more performance-avoidance goals (i.e., the fear of performing poorly) than continuing-generation (CG) students.AimsIn this study, individual mobility is examined as a predictor of performance-avoidance goal endorsement. It is argued that FG students endorse more these goals than CG students because in higher education, the form…
Selection and the economic value of education: A barrier to reducing the SES achievement gap
Due to the role that schools play in determining the status of the future occupations of their children (i.e., the selection function of education), high socioeconomic status (SES) parents may not always be supportive of interventions that would reduce the SES achievement gap. In four experiments, we measured the support of parents ( N total = 1966) for implementing an equalizing (and, in Experiments 2 and 3, an inequality‐maintaining) interventi…
Conflits et apprentissage. Régulation des conflits sociocognitifs et apprentissage
Les recherches sur le conflit sociocognitif (confrontation de points de vue entre partenaires) peuvent être utiles pour comprendre l’apprentissage dans les contextes collectifs. Cette synthèse présente les conditions qui rendent les conflits constructifs, inefficaces ou délétères pour l’apprentissage, à partir de travaux empiriques qui se sont souvent développés en parallèle : des travaux relatifs aux décisions collectives, à l’apprentissage coop…
Backlash among the dominant: Assessing support for elitism in four European countries
In recent decades, populism has gained momentum in many Western countries and has increased the salience of the category “the people” in contemporary politics. This success of populist politics may evoke a backlash effect among more dominant groups in general, and the higher educated in particular, potentially triggering support for elitism. Based on preregistered analyses of survey data from four countries (the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, D…
Competitive and cooperative practices in education: How teachers’ beliefs in school meritocracy are related to their daily practices with students
Are performance–avoidance goals always deleterious for academic achievement in college? The moderating role of social class
Improving Low Achievers’ Academic Performance at University by Changing the Social Value of Mastery Goals
Recent research has shown that, in a university context, mastery goals are highly valued and that students may endorse these goals either because they believe in their utility (i.e., social utility), in which case mastery goals are positively linked to achievement, or to create a positive image of themselves (i.e., social desirability), in which case mastery goals do not predict academic achievement. The present two experiments induced high versu…
Buts de performance et de maîtrise et interactions sociales entre étudiants: La Situation Particulière Du Désaccord Avec Autrui
D’après de nombreuses recherches (voir Dweck, 1986 ; Nicholls, 1984), les étudiants peuvent poursuivre deux types de buts lorsqu’ils réalisent une tâche d’apprentissage : le but de maîtrise (désir d’apprendre, de développer des connaissances) et le but de performance (désir de mettre en avant ses compétences, ses capacités). Cet article présente une synthèse de travaux portant sur les effets des buts dans la situation particulière où l’étudiant e…
Self-enhancement values and academic achievement: An interaction with students' parental level of education and gender
BackgroundWe investigated the link between the endorsement of self-enhancement values (e.g., ambition, influence, authority and social power) and school achievement (i.e., grades).AimAdopting an intersectional framework, we argued that the link may be qualified by both students' gender and their parents' education level. We hypothesized that depending on students' different experiences in the school system as a function of their gender and their …
Economic insecurity and compliance with the Covid‐19 restrictions
The present research investigates economic insecurity as one potential determinant of citizens' compliance with restrictive policies implemented to combat the spread of the COVID‐19 virus. Two pre‐registered studies ( N Study 1 = 305; N Study 2 = 175) were conducted in France during the second and the third wave of the pandemic to test correlational (Study 1) and causal (Study 2) links between economic insecurity, perceived constraints, and trans…
Assessing does not mean threatening: The purpose of assessment as a key determinant of girls' and boys' performance in a science class
BackgroundIs 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.AimThe 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.SampleParticipa…
Conflict Elaboration and Cognitive Outcomes
This article presents advice for teachers about using sociocognitive conflicts to promote academic learning. In doing so, the conditions under which sociocognitive conflicts are constructive or disruptive are examined and the relevant research is reviewed on social development, cooperative learning, and social influence. Two types of conflict elaboration—epistemic and relational—are identified. Epistemic elaborations focus students on task resolu…
Buts de performance et de maîtrise et interactions sociales entre étudiants: La Situation Particulière Du Désaccord Avec Autrui
D’après de nombreuses recherches (voir Dweck, 1986 ; Nicholls, 1984), les étudiants peuvent poursuivre deux types de buts lorsqu’ils réalisent une tâche d’apprentissage : le but de maîtrise (désir d’apprendre, de développer des connaissances) et le but de performance (désir de mettre en avant ses compétences, ses capacités). Cet article présente une synthèse de travaux portant sur les effets des buts dans la situation particulière où l’étudiant e…
Conflits et apprentissage. Régulation des conflits sociocognitifs et apprentissage
Les recherches sur le conflit sociocognitif (confrontation de points de vue entre partenaires) peuvent être utiles pour comprendre l’apprentissage dans les contextes collectifs. Cette synthèse présente les conditions qui rendent les conflits constructifs, inefficaces ou délétères pour l’apprentissage, à partir de travaux empiriques qui se sont souvent développés en parallèle : des travaux relatifs aux décisions collectives, à l’apprentissage coop…
Achievement goal promotion at university: Social desirability and social utility of mastery and performance goals
The present research examines the ambivalence of achievement goal promotion at university, and more specifically in the psychology curriculum. On the one hand, psychology teachers explicitly encourage mastery but not performance (neither approach nor avoidance) goals. On the other hand, the selection process encourages the endorsement of not only mastery but also performance-approach goals. In fact, it would seem that both performance-approach an…
Personal self and collective self: When academic choices depend on the context of social comparison
Understanding Positive Attitudes toward Helping Peers: The Role of Mastery Goals and Academic Self-Efficacy
The present research was designed to document the relationship between mastery and performance goals and attitudes toward helping others, and to test the mediating role of self-efficacy. Two experiments (Studies 1 and 2) showed that students with mastery goals hold stronger positive attitudes toward helping peers, relative to students with performance goals. Furthermore, a field study (Study 3) indicated that students' mastery goals were positive…
Assessing does not mean threatening: The purpose of assessment as a key determinant of girls' and boys' performance in a science class
BackgroundIs 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.AimThe 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.SampleParticipa…
From social class to self-efficacy: Internalization of low social status pupils’ school performance
Improving Low Achievers’ Academic Performance at University by Changing the Social Value of Mastery Goals
Recent research has shown that, in a university context, mastery goals are highly valued and that students may endorse these goals either because they believe in their utility (i.e., social utility), in which case mastery goals are positively linked to achievement, or to create a positive image of themselves (i.e., social desirability), in which case mastery goals do not predict academic achievement. The present two experiments induced high versu…
The social utility of performance-approach goals in a selective educational environment
The Experience of Low‐SES Students in Higher Education: Psychological Barriers to Success and Interventions to Reduce Social‐Class Inequality
The economic decline of the Great Recession has increased the need for a university degree, which can enhance individuals’ prospects of obtaining employment in a competitive, globalized market. Research in the social sciences has consistently demonstrated that students with low socioeconomic status (SES) have fewer opportunities to succeed in university contexts compared to students with high SES. The present article reviews the psychological bar…
Belief in school meritocracy as an ideological barrier to the promotion of equality
In the educational system, social inequalities are reproduced and legitimated. As a consequence, the implementation of interventions that reduce the SES achievement gap in education may face important ideological barriers. The purpose of the present article is to test the belief in school meritocracy as one of these barriers. In three studies, participants' willingness to see an equalizing pedagogical intervention implemented in one's own univers…
Doing better (or worse) than one's parents: Social status, mobility, and performance-avoidance goals
BackgroundPrevious research has shown that, when succeeding in higher education, first-generation (FG) students endorse more performance-avoidance goals (i.e., the fear of performing poorly) than continuing-generation (CG) students.AimsIn this study, individual mobility is examined as a predictor of performance-avoidance goal endorsement. It is argued that FG students endorse more these goals than CG students because in higher education, the form…
Are performance–avoidance goals always deleterious for academic achievement in college? The moderating role of social class
Examining the role of perceived prestige in the link between students’ subjective socioeconomic status and sense of belonging
Low socioeconomic status (SES) students have a lower sense of belonging to college than high-SES students. Due to the importance of sense of belonging in the college pathway, understanding the reason for this relation is particularly important. Here, we argue that in addition to having less access to resources, low-SES students in the college context also perceive themselves as having lower prestige than their high-SES counterparts. Thus, in the …
Turning the gender tables: Evidence of students’ awareness of a reversal in gender status between academic and occupational contexts
Why lockdown and distance learning during the Covid-19 pandemic are likely to increase the social class achievement gap
Can an early mathematical intervention boost the progress of children in kindergarten? A field experiment
Do jigsaw classrooms improve learning outcomes? Five experiments and an internal meta-analysis
International audience
Economic insecurity and compliance with the Covid‐19 restrictions
The present research investigates economic insecurity as one potential determinant of citizens' compliance with restrictive policies implemented to combat the spread of the COVID‐19 virus. Two pre‐registered studies ( N Study 1 = 305; N Study 2 = 175) were conducted in France during the second and the third wave of the pandemic to test correlational (Study 1) and causal (Study 2) links between economic insecurity, perceived constraints, and trans…
A multilevel account of social value‐related reasons behind mastery goals
BACKGROUND: A growing literature focuses on reasons behind achievement goal endorsement, and mastery-approach goals (MG) specifically, and how these reasons influence academic performance. Past research provides evidence that student-level social value-related reasons behind MG moderate the MG-performance link in adolescents and young adults. However, we ignore whether this moderation is best conceived of as a student-level effect (i.e., students…
Belief in School Meritocracy and the Legitimization of Social and Income Inequality
Educational institutions are imbued with an institutional meritocratic discourse: only merit counts for academic success. In this article, we study whether this institutional belief has an impact beyond its primary function of encouraging students to study. We propose that belief in school meritocracy has broader societal impact by legitimizing the social class hierarchy it produces and encouraging the maintenance of inequalities. The results of …
Competitive and cooperative practices in education: How teachers’ beliefs in school meritocracy are related to their daily practices with students
Delivering mindset interventions to teachers as an efficient way to leverage the impact of mindset interventions
Research in social psychology and education proposes that adopting a growth mindset of intelligence is an important mediator for the well-being and performance of students at school. As a consequence, wise interventions have been developed to target student mindsets and change their beliefs about how much their intelligence can grow with training and experience. However, the efficacy of mindset interventions is highly debated, as effect sizes var…
Self-enhancement values and academic achievement: An interaction with students' parental level of education and gender
BackgroundWe investigated the link between the endorsement of self-enhancement values (e.g., ambition, influence, authority and social power) and school achievement (i.e., grades).AimAdopting an intersectional framework, we argued that the link may be qualified by both students' gender and their parents' education level. We hypothesized that depending on students' different experiences in the school system as a function of their gender and their …
Psychology (30 works) · Social Psychology (25 works) · Social Psychology (15 works) · Developmental psychology (12 works) · Education, Achievement, and Giftedness (12 works) · Motivation and Self-Concept in Sports (12 works) · Political science (12 works) · Mathematics education (10 works) · Sociology (10 works) · Pedagogy (9 works)