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Related Concept Videos

Sources of Self-Esteem III: Social Comparison01:27

Sources of Self-Esteem III: Social Comparison

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Social comparison plays a fundamental role in the evaluation of personal success and self-worth. Rather than assessing our achievements in isolation, we interpret their significance relative to personal goals and critically in comparison to the performance of others. A grade of B in a mathematics exam might elicit pride if one's expectation was a C, yet result in disappointment if an A was anticipated or if peers achieved superior results. These comparative evaluations illustrate how both...
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According to Charles Cooley, we base our image on what we think other people see (Cooley 1902). We imagine how we must appear to others, then react to this speculation. We don certain clothes, prepare our hair in a particular manner, wear makeup, use cologne, and the like—all with the notion that our presentation of ourselves is going to affect how others perceive us. We expect a certain reaction, and, if lucky, we get the one we desire and feel good about it. But more than that, Cooley...
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Self-Evaluation Maintenance Model01:29

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The Self-Evaluation Maintenance (SEM) model offers a psychological framework to understand how individuals’ self-esteem is influenced by the achievements of others, particularly those with whom they share close personal bonds. The SEM model operates when personal rather than social identity guides individuals. Central to this model is the notion that individuals have an inherent desire to preserve a favorable self-image, which is continuously shaped by interpersonal comparisons and...
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Sources of Self-Esteem II: Performance Feedback01:24

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Self-esteem is intricately tied to our perception of competence and our ability to exert control over our lives. One of the primary sources of this perception is performance feedback — the ongoing evaluation of our actions in terms of success and failure. According to Franks and Marolla (1976), people derive self-worth from experiencing themselves as causal agents, capable of achieving goals and overcoming obstacles. This process nurtures a critical component of self-esteem:...
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Self-verification is a fundamental psychological drive wherein individuals seek affirmation of their self-concept from others, striving for consistency between their internal self-view and external perceptions. This drive operates even when the self-concept is negative, influencing interpersonal behavior and feedback preferences in complex and often counterintuitive ways. Unlike the self-enhancement motive, which seeks positive evaluations, self-verification prioritizes coherence and...
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Social psychologists have documented that feeling good about ourselves and maintaining positive self-esteem is a powerful motivator of human behavior (Tavris & Aronson, 2008). In the United States, members of the predominant culture typically think very highly of themselves and view themselves as good people who are above average on many desirable traits (Ehrlinger, Gilovich, & Ross, 2005). Often, our behavior, attitudes, and beliefs are affected when we experience a threat to our...
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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jan 6, 2026

The Joint Effect of Social Comparison and Social Distance on Evaluation of Intertemporal Choice Outcomes in Event-related Potential Studies
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Feedback processing in the context of social comparison.

Christian Valt1, Mona Katharina Sprengeler1,2, Birgit Stürmer1

  • 1International Psychoanalytic University, Berlin, Germany.

Psychophysiology
|October 4, 2019
PubMed
Summary

Social comparison impacts performance monitoring. When individuals perceive their performance as worse than others, it triggers enhanced attentional resource allocation, as indicated by the P3a brainwave component.

Keywords:
P3abilateral electrodesfeedback-related negativity (FRN)sequence of two feedback signalssocial comparison

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Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Neuroscience
  • Social Psychology
  • Neuroscience of Decision Making

Background:

  • Social comparison is a fundamental human tendency involving evaluating oneself relative to others.
  • Performance monitoring systems in the brain are crucial for adaptive behavior and learning.
  • Understanding how social context influences cognitive processes like performance evaluation is vital.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the electrophysiological effects of social comparison on performance monitoring.
  • To examine how feedback about others' performance modulates neural responses to personal performance.
  • To explore the role of the P3a component in processing social comparative feedback.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized event-related potentials (ERPs) to measure brain activity during a cooperative task.
  • Presented participants with sequential personal and non-personal (other participant's) performance feedback.
  • Analyzed the P3a and feedback-related negativity (FRN) components in response to feedback.

Main Results:

  • Non-personal feedback significantly modulated the P3a component of personal feedback, but not the FRN.
  • A larger P3a was observed when personal performance was perceived as worse than the other participant's.
  • This P3a modulation was prominent over fronto-central electrodes (FC3, FC4), suggesting attentional engagement.

Conclusions:

  • Social comparison, particularly unfavorable comparisons, enhances attentional resource allocation during performance monitoring.
  • The P3a component serves as a neural marker for detecting and responding to social performance discrepancies.
  • These findings highlight the interplay between social cognition and neural mechanisms of performance evaluation.