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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
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A motivational framework of social comparison
Kathi Diel1, Sonja Grelle1, Wilhelm Hofmann1
1Faculty of Psychology.
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
|January 28, 2021
Summary
Social comparison impacts motivation. Extreme upward comparisons lead to giving up, while downward comparisons encourage reduced effort, highlighting the complex link between social environments and goal pursuit.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Social Psychology
- Self-Regulation
Background:
- Social comparison significantly influences individual motivation and emotional states.
- Understanding the interplay between self-regulation and social comparison is crucial for goal pursuit.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how discrepancies between the self and comparison standards affect motivation and affect.
- To examine the nonlinear relationship between social comparison and effort investment.
Main Methods:
- A preregistered experience sampling study involving over 5,400 social comparison situations.
- Analysis of discrepancy assessments, motivation (effort investment), and emotional responses in everyday life.
Main Results:
- Negative discrepancies (upward comparisons) initially increase effort but extreme ones lead to disengagement.
- Positive discrepancies (downward comparisons) are associated with reduced effort ('coasting').
- Perceived control and domain importance moderate the effect of negative discrepancies on motivation.
Conclusions:
- Social comparison's impact on motivation is complex and nonlinear, depending on discrepancy direction and extremity.
- A self-regulatory perspective on social comparison offers a unified framework for understanding its motivational and emotional consequences.
- Social comparison can either benefit or hinder everyday goal pursuit based on these integrated processes.
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