Abstract
We examined the extent to which college students’ self-reported study strategy use relates to perceived peer strategy use, allowing us to determine whether college students misperceive peers’ use of different study strategies. College students (n = 195) reported their use and perceived peer use of 10 different study strategies. Study strategy use positively related to GPA. Moreover, students perceived higher rates of peers’ use of relatively ineffective strategies (e.g., highlighting/underlining) and perceived lower rates of peers’ use of the highly effective strategy of distributing practice, compared to actual reports. Perceiving that peers are more likely to utilize ineffective strategies and less likely to utilize effective strategies may contribute to continued use of counterproductive or ineffective study behavior.
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Notes
Henceforth referred to as “highlighting” for brevity, given that highlighting and underlining do not appear to differ (Fowler and Barker 1974).
It is worth noting that some strategies, such as keyword mnemonic and imagery, often utilize principles of elaboration and dual-coding, which have been found to improve memory. Their categorization as “low” utility strategies may be due at least in part to a lack of research specifically evaluating these strategies, rather than research indicating low effectiveness.
First-semester freshmen reported their high-school GPA. Ninety-two percent of participants reported their GPA, and the remaining 8% identifying as first-semester freshmen failed to report their high-school GPA. Thus, these percentages are calculated using only the 182 participants who self-reported GPA.
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This study was funded by the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program (Grant No. DGE-1321845).
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The second author is supported in part by the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program under Grant No. DGE-1321845, Amendment II. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
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The second author is supported in part by the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program under Grant No. DGE-1321845, Amendment II. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
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Anthenien, A.M., DeLozier, S.J., Neighbors, C. et al. College student normative misperceptions of peer study habit use. Soc Psychol Educ 21, 303–322 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11218-017-9412-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11218-017-9412-z