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Updated: Jun 6, 2026
08:24
The Joint Effect of Social Comparison and Social Distance on Evaluation of Intertemporal Choice Outcomes in Event-related Potential Studies
Published on: August 25, 2023
[Effects of third-party perspective taking on social comparison processes]
1College of Contemporary Psychology, Rikkyo University, Kitano, Niiza, 352-8558, Japan. okubo@rikkyo.ac.jp
Shinrigaku Kenkyu : the Japanese Journal of Psychology
|November 11, 2010
Summary
Third-party attention influences social comparison self-evaluation. Gender differences emerged, with females showing contrast effects when adopting a friend's viewpoint and males when using their own perspective.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Social Psychology
Context:
- Social comparison theory explains how individuals evaluate themselves by comparing to others.
- Third-party attention and perspective-taking are understudied moderators in social comparison.
Purpose:
- To investigate the impact of third-party attention on self-evaluation during social comparison.
- To examine gender differences in how perspective-taking influences social comparison outcomes.
Summary:
- University students (N=114) underwent a linguistic test, received feedback, and then viewed another's score (superior/inferior) from either a friend's or their own perspective.
- Females exhibited a contrast effect (self-evaluation displaced from comparison target) when adopting a friend's viewpoint.
- Males showed a contrast effect when evaluating from their own viewpoint.
Impact:
- Findings suggest social comparison is modulated by third-party attention and perspective-taking.
- Demonstrates significant gender differences in the direction of social comparison influence, highlighting the role of viewpoint.
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