How do we know who we are?

An update on social comparison theory

Sources of SelfKnowledge
Global self-esteem Direct feedback from others Indirect feedback from others Reflected appraisals Self-perception Social comparison
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Self-Perception
Bems SP theory: when internal cues are difficult to interpret, people gain self-insight by observing their own behavior.
Emotions---facial feedback Motivation---reward study

Self-Perception Theory
No external reward Self-perception: I do this because I like it. Intrinsic Motivation

Enjoyable activities

External reward (e.g., $)

Self-perception: I do this because Im paid to.

Extrinsic Motivation

Festinger (1954). A theory of social comparison processes.

1. People are driven to evaluate their opinions and abilities.

Emphasis on Accuracy: The holding of incorrect opinions and/or inaccurate appraisals of ones abilities can be punishing or even fatal in many situations.
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Festinger (1954). A theory of social comparison processes.

2. In the absence of objective information, people compare to others. 3. People prefer to compare to others who have similar abilities.

Two types of social comparison research

Reactions to comparison- what happens to self-evaluations when people encounter social comparisons? Comparison choice- when do people choose to compare to others? With whom do people compare?

Social Comparison Direction

Upward social comparison- compare to someone who is better than you.

Downward social comparison- compare to someone who is worse than you.

Testing the Similarity Hypothesis: Rank Order Paradigm

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 19 ?? ?? 12 You ?? ?? 7

Which score would you like to see?

Testing the Similarity Hypothesis: Related Attributes Suls et al. (1979)

Participant Chose Gender Male Norm Male 44.1% Chose Female Norm 0 Chose Combined Norm 55.9%

Female

61.1%

38.9%

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Support for the Similarity Hypothesis

Rank order paradigmcompare to others with similar scores. Related attributes paradigmcompare to others with similar characteristics (e.g., gender).

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Social Comparison and Objective Information

Festinger: In the absence of objective information, people compare to others.

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Klein (1997) Social comparison and objective information

Ps received feedback on a test of esthetic ability.

Upward SC

Downward SC

High You: 60 score Avg: 80

Low You: 40 score Avg: 60

You: 60 Avg: 40
You: 40 Avg: 20
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DVs: Self-evaluations and Task Choice

Klein (1997): Results

Self-evaluations were sig. affected by social comparison info, but not objective info. Choice of task was sig. affected by both. Interpretation: People use SC even when they have (more useful) objective info.

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Comparison Choice Buckingham (2001). Does objective information reduce the drive to compare to others?

Accuracy perspective:

The more information people have about an ability, the less interest they should have in comparing to other individuals.

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Buckingham (2001). Procedure

59 female students participated in a driving safety study. Ps completed the Driving Appraisal Inventory. Experimenter provided feedback. You have a 20% chance of causing an automobile accident.
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Buckingham (2001). Variables

Manipulation:
Control group: no further information. Safer than average group: the average risk for a woman your age is 30%. Riskier than average group: the average risk for a woman your age is 10%.

Dependent variable:
Would you like to see how others scored?
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Buckingham (2001) Results

Control Riskier than Safer than average (no average) average
Percentage requesting comparison information 52% 65% 20%

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When do people compare with others?

Accuracy perspective: The more information people have about an ability, the less interest they should have in comparing to other individuals.

Revision:
Additional information (e.g., the average) reduces the drive to compare when it puts the person in a favorable light.
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How Frequently do People Compare With Others?

Wheeler & Miyake (1992) Diary study using the Rochester Social Comparison Record. On average, participants recorded 23.5 comparisons over 13.1 days.

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Social Comparison Motives: Wood, 1989

Why do people compare with others?: Self-evaluation (accuracy)- people want valid info about themselves. Self-enhancement- people want to feel good about themselves. Self-improvement- people want to get better.
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