[Effects of third-party perspective taking on social comparison processes]

This study examined the effects of attention by a third party to a comparison target on self-evaluation in social comparison. University students (N=114; 42 males and 72 females) were randomly assigned to comparison-target (superior, inferior) and perspective-taking (perspective taking of a third party, nonperspective taking) conditions. First, participants completed a linguistic performance test and were given feedback on their results. Next, participants were asked to look at another's score (either high or low) from the viewpoint of a friend, or from their own viewpoint. Finally, participants rated their own test performance. In social comparison research, a contrast effect is said to occur when self-evaluation is displaced away from the evaluation of the comparison target. The results indicated that undergraduate females who saw the other's score from the viewpoint of a friend had a contrast effect in their self-ratings. Conversely, undergraduate males who saw the other's score from their own viewpoint showed a contrast effect in their self-ratings. The results suggest that social comparison depends on the attention of a third party and that there are gender differences in the direction of this influence.