Word.ws English Dictionary

big-fish-little-pond effect

big-fish-little-pond effect noun: the tendency of individuals to compare their own self-concept with their peers, which suggests that equally capable individuals have higher self-concepts when in a less capable group than in a more capable group.

Noun

big-fish-little-pond effect (plural big-fish-little-pond effects)

  1. The tendency of individuals to compare their own self-concept with their peers, which suggests that equally capable individuals have higher self-concepts when in a less capable group than in a more capable group.
    Synonyms:
    BFLPE

Synonyms of big-fish-little-pond effect

Forms of big-fish-little-pond effect

pluralbig-fish-little-pond effects

Origin of big-fish-little-pond effect

After the phrase big fish in a small pond. The effect was introduced by Herbert W. Marsh and John W. Parker in 1984.

Questions about big-fish-little-pond effect

What does big-fish-little-pond effect mean?
Big-fish-little-pond effect means the tendency of individuals to compare their own self-concept with their peers, which suggests that equally capable individuals have higher self-concepts when in a less capable group than in a more capable group.
What part of speech is big-fish-little-pond effect?
Big-fish-little-pond effect is a noun.
What is the plural of big-fish-little-pond effect?
The plural of big-fish-little-pond effect is big-fish-little-pond effects.

Words near big-fish-little-pond effect in the dictionary

  1. big-endian
  2. big-eyed
  3. big-eyed tree frog
  4. big-eyed tree frogs
  5. big-fat
  6. big-fish-little-pond effect
  7. big-fish-little-pond effects
  8. big-footed mice
  9. big-footed mouse
  10. big-girl pants
  11. big-head

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: big-fish-little-pond effect (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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