New evidence on self-affirmation effects and theorized sources of heterogeneity from large-scale replications
Paul Hanselman, Christopher Rozek, Jeffrey Grigg and Geoffrey Borman ran a well-powered replication of a school self-affirmation intervention in a setting where an earlier large-scale field experiment had found significant positive effects, using the same procedures. The replication found no effects, with estimates precise enough to rule out benefits larger than an effect size of 0.10. The null results differed significantly from the earlier study's lasting benefits, and currently theorised moderators could not account for the difference. The authors conclude that self-affirmation may be fragile at scale in schools.
Paul Hanselman, Christopher Rozek, Jeffrey Grigg and Geoffrey Borman ran a well-powered replication of a school self-affirmation intervention in a setting where an earlier large-scale field experiment had found significant positive effects, using the same procedures. The replication found no effects, with estimates precise enough to rule out benefits larger than an effect size of 0.10. The null results differed significantly from the earlier study's lasting benefits, and currently theorised moderators could not account for the difference. The authors conclude that self-affirmation may be fragile at scale in schools.
Written from the abstract read 2026-10-22 via the Washington University profile record.
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doi:10.1037/edu0000141. Read at the level of the abstract.