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In the current research, we developed and tested a model of how and when social comparison of received help influenced the recipient's job performance (i.e., interpersonal citizenship behavior, task performance). Based on social exchange theory and social comparison theory, we posited that social comparison of received help influenced the recipient's feelings of gratitude, which in turn had a positive relationship with interpersonal citizenship behavior (ICB) and task performance. Further, we argued that the recipient's psychological entitlement influenced the effects of social comparison of received help. Using data collected in three waves from 307 employees in China, we found that social comparison of received help was positively associated with the recipient's feelings of gratitude while controlling for overall received help. Gratitude, in turn, benefited ICB and task performance. Moreover, high levels of psychological entitlement weakened the relationship between the social comparison of received help and the recipient's feelings of gratitude. Further, they weakened the indirect relationship between the social comparison of received help and the recipient's ICB and task performance via gratitude. These findings could potentially extend our knowledge of received help literature by introducing a social comparison perspective., Author(s): Huan Cheng [sup.1] , Weili Zheng [sup.2] , Yuanfang Zhan [sup.3] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.33199.31, 0000 0004 0368 7223, School of Management, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, , [...]

Emergence of equivalence relations among stimuli previously related by exclusion was assessed by using the blank- comparison-stimulus procedure throughout baseline and test trials, in order to avoid problems involved in testing emergent relations with either baseline or novel stimuli as S- comparisons. In Experiment 1, participants were exposed to pretraining phases in order to learn to respond to a blank comparison stimulus as the correct one when the other comparison stimuli were incorrect. Then, they learned a baseline of conditional relations for the emergence of stimulus Classes 1 and 2. Thereafter, they were exposed to exclusion trials, in which stimuli from the preexperimentally defined Class 3 were introduced as undefined stimuli, whereas baseline stimuli were defined. They were then presented with symmetry and transitivity trials for all three classes (Group 1), or only Class 3 (Group 2), in three-choice matching trials. Most participants in Group 2 related stimuli previously related by exclusion as if they were in an equivalence relation, but most participants in Group 1 did not. In Experiment 2, most participants of a single group (Group 3) showed emergence of equivalence by exclusion and transfer of stimuli functions when exposition to exclusion trials occurred after demonstration of equivalence of the baseline classes, and assessment of equivalence was conducted for the three classes in two-choice matching trials. Conditions under which the emergence of equivalence by exclusion occurs are discussed. Keywords Stimulus equivalence * Exclusion * Blank comparison * Matching to sample * Conditional discriminations, A property of symbolic behavior is the emergence of new conditional relations among stimuli that are not the product of mere stimulus generalization, and that involve accurate responding to relations [...]

When creating theory to understand or implement change at the social and/or organizational level, it is generally accepted that part of the theory building process includes a process of abstraction. While the process of abstraction is well understood, it is not so well understood how abstractions 'fit' together to enable the creation of better theory. Starting with a few simple ideas, this paper explores one way we work with abstractions. This exploration challenges the traditionally held importance of abstracting concepts from experience. That traditional focus has been one-sided-pushing science toward the discovery of data without the balancing process that occurs with the integration of the data. Without such balance, the sciences have been pushed toward fragmentation. Instead, in the present paper, new emphasis is placed on the relationship between abstract concepts. Specifically, this paper suggests that a better theory is one that is constructed of concepts that exist on a similar level of abstraction. Suggestions are made for quantifying this claim and using the insights to enable scholars and practitioners to create more effective theory., Author(s): Steven E. Wallis [sup.1] [sup.2] Author Affiliations: (1) Foundation for the Advancement of Social Theory, Petaluma, CA, USA (2) Capella University, 0000 0004 0538 1308, grid.411922.d, , Minneapolis, MN, [...]

Three studies examined the influence of comparison-referent exposure (i.e., the frequency with which one views comparison referents) on evaluations of the ability of a target person (either oneself or another person). In Experiment 1, participants performed a task and then viewed performances of both upward and downward referents. Participants who saw more performances by the upward referents than the downward referents evaluated their own performances less favorably did than participants who saw more performances by the downward referents than the upward referents. Experiment 2 produced similar findings, showing that comparison exposure also influences people's evaluations about someone other than themselves. In Experiment 3, comparison-exposure effects were significantly reduced when participants were instructed to think deliberatively about the comparison information, consistent with the idea that people typically rely on imprecise representations of comparison information even when they are capable of forming more precise representations from memory if motivated to do so. Keywords: social comparison; comparative judgments; ability evaluations

The number of studies related to visual perception has been plentiful in recent years. Participants rated the areas of five randomly generated shapes of equal area, using a reference unit area that was displayed together with the shapes. Respondents were 179 university students from Canada and Poland. The average error estimated by respondents using the unit square was 25.75%. The error was substantially decreased to 5.51% when the shapes were compared to one another in pairs. This gain of 20.24% for this two-dimensional experiment was substantially better than the 11.78% gain reported in the previous one-dimensional experiments. This is the first statistically sound two-dimensional experiment demonstrating that pairwise comparisons improve accuracy.

Comparisons are a ubiquitous process in information processing. Seven studies examine whether, how, and when comparative thinking increases the efficiency of judgment and choice. Studies 1-4 demonstrate that procedurally priming participants to engage in more vs. less comparison influences how they process information about a target. Specifically, they retrieve less information about the target (Studies 1A, 1B), think more about an information-rich standard (Study 2) about which they activate judgment-relevant information (Study 3), and use this information to compensate for missing target information (Study 4). Studies 2-5 demonstrate the ensuing efficiency advantages. Participants who are primed on comparative thinking are faster in making a target judgment (Studies 2A, 2B, 4, 5) and have more residual processing capacities for a secondary task (Study 5). Studies 6 and 7 establish two boundary conditions by demonstrating that comparative thinking holds efficiency advantages only if target and standard are partly characterized by alignable features (Study 6) that are difficult to evaluate in isolation (Study 7). These findings indicate that comparative thinking may often constitute a useful mechanism to simplify information processing. Keywords: comparison, efficiency, thinking styles, procedural priming

What role do the magnitudes of the constituent digits play in three-digit number comparison (e.g., choosing the larger one of two numbers)? The present study addressed this question by examining compatibility effects between hundred and decade digits and between hundred and unit digits. For example, the number pair 372-845 is hundred--decade incompatible because the larger number contains the smaller decade digit, but hundred--unit compatible because the larger number contains the larger unit digit. We obtained significant effects of hundred--decade and hundred--unit compatibility on number comparison times. However, the effect of hundred--unit compatibility was largely restricted to the hundred--decade-compatible condition. These results suggest that place-value information, through decomposition, is automatically taken into account when multidigit numbers have to be compared. Implications of our findings for models of number processing are discussed.

A study was conducted on how self-other similarity judgment asymmetry operates. The findings suggest a typical asymmetry for comparison others to whom the participants did not wished to be more similar and a reversed asymmetry in the opposite case.

Three studies were conducted to examine whether cultural background and self-construal predict affective reactions to successful and unsuccessful others. Results suggest that Asian-Canadians and those with more interdependent self-construals have less positive affective reactions to an unsuccessful other than did European-Canadians and those with less interdependent self-construals.

Despite the growing popularity of self-help groups for people with chronic illness, there has been surprisingly little research into how these may support adjustment to illness. This study investigated the role that social comparison, occurring within a self-help group, may play in adjustment to chronic illness. A model of adjustment based on control process theory and response shift theory was tested to determine whether social comparisons predicted adjustment after controlling for the catalyst for adjustment (disease severity) and antecedents (demographic and psychological factors). A sample of 301 people with Meniere's disease who were members of the Meniere's Society UK completed questionnaires at baseline and 10-month follow-up assessing adjustment, defined for this study as functional and goal-oriented quality of life. At baseline, they also completed measures of the predictor variables i.e. the antecedents (age, sex, living circumstances, duration of self-help group membership, self-esteem, optimism and perceived control over illness), the catalyst (severity of vertigo, tinnitus, hearing loss and fullness in the ear) and mechanisms of social comparison within the self-help group. The social comparison variables included the extent to which self-help group resources were used, and whether reading about other members' experiences induced positive or negative feelings. Cross-sectional results showed that positive social comparison was indeed associated with better adjustment after controlling for all the other baseline variables, while negative social comparison was associated with worse adjustment. However, greater levels of social comparison at baseline were associated with a deteriorating quality of life over the 10-month follow-up period. Alternative explanations for these findings are discussed. Keywords: UK; Adjustment; Quality of life; Chronic illness; Social comparison; Longitudinal design

A longitudinal investigation showed that self-enhancement by social comparison (assessing whether people perceive themselves more positively than they perceive others) was prospectively related to an increase in self-reported adjustment, controlling for the effects of narcissism. Better adjustment, including higher self-esteem, was not prospectively related to an increase in self-enhancement. The investigation also included a diary period, allowing the assessment of intrasubject covariation between daily reports of self-esteem and daily reports of perceived challenge and daily events (positive or negative). High (compared to low) self-enhancers were less likely to report lower self-esteem under higher challenge and less likely to report higher self-esteem under positive events. Keywords: self-enhancement; adjustment; prospective analysis

Much research has demonstrated that workers are influenced by--and behave differently as a result of--social comparisons with various referent individuals. However, relatively little research has examined how individuals choose among these referents for comparison activities. In this article, we seek to extend previous work on referent selection by acknowledging psychological influences. Specifically, we develop arguments for how self-efficacy, equity sensitivity, and psychological climate may affect referent selection. We also examine system-referents--referent choices involving the employment exchange--from the perspective of psychological contracts. From these relationships, we attempt to enrich our understanding of social cognitive theory, equity theory, and other psychological contract theory. By so doing, we seek to provide knowledge useful for managers interested in how their employees react to workplace comparisons., The nature of contemporary work environments, ones characterized by instability and uncertainty, may create increased needs on the part of individuals for comparative information (Lamertz, 2002). Individuals use social comparisons [...]

Comparative optimism is a pervasive tendency for people to rate personal future prospects more favorably than those of comparable others. This may be caused by deliberately choosing targets on the basis of vulnerability. Restricting the range of comparison targets reduces the opportunity to make downward comparisons and should reduce comparative optimism. We asked 100 undergraduates to assemble a list of other students known to them. Participants estimated their personal risk of being victim of a road crash and skin cancer, and estimated the risk of 2 targets from the list. The participant selected one target, while the experimenter randomly chose the other target. Comparative optimism was greater in the participant-selected target condition, and this effect was almost exclusive to participants who reported making downward comparisons. We concluded that downward comparison processes could affect comparative optimism when targets are individual people.

This study examined how young children change their strategies for comparing sizes. 33 5- and 6-yr.-old children were asked to compare the sizes of geometric figures, and their strategies were observed. Children in experimental conditions were also asked to evaluate presented strategies for comparing geometric figures, and half of the children were provided with feedback on the evaluation. Analysis showed children provided with feedback on evaluation showed increased use of the strategy of placing one figure on another.

This work analyzed the effects of unrealistic optimism in the interaction between the emotional valence of future events, the perception of control over these events, and the person with whom one compares oneself. It was hypothesized that, if the person of comparison is judged as very competent, a pessimistic bias should be produced. Likelihood of four different types of events (positive and controllable, positive and uncontrollable, negative and controllable, and negative and uncontrollable) were rated by 133 university students (22 men and 111 women) for themselves, for an average student, for their best friend, and for a bright friend. A pessimistic bias was observed on the relative likelihood of the events when the comparison was made between oneself and a competent and bright friend, when events were perceived as controllable, especially positive ones. Not enough is known, however, to provide meaningful interpretation at present; that must await further data and theoretical development.

Although often credited with prompting a paradigm shift in social comparison theory, T. A. Wills's (1981) downward comparison (DC) theory has received some criticism recently. In particular, several recent studies have failed to find support for T. A. Wills's (1981) contention that threat and accompanying negative affect lead to a desire for DC. These apparent failures have led some investigators to question basic principles of the theory. To resolve this controversy, 5 studies were conducted examining preferred comparison level (PCL) after performance; 4 of the studies also assessed change in this preference. Results supported DC theory, but with modifications. Specifically, individuals who performed poorly lowered their PCLs. Under some circumstances, this 'downward shift' included an increased interest in 'true' DC--comparing with worse-off others. A reconciliation of these results with those of previous studies is offered.

Sidman (1987) and Carrigan and Sidman (1992) have advised against the use of two-choice procedures in studies of emergent matching to sample. They argue that in two-choice, as opposed to multiple-choice, procedures: (1) It is more difficult to make sure that the baseline conditional relations have been established; (2) There is a greater chance that test outcomes are not related to the baseline conditional relations; and (3) The predictions of stimulus equivalence are less clear. In response to the first two arguments, I argue that they refer to technical difficulties that can easily be handled within the two-choice procedure itself. In response to the third argument, I argue that the formulation of Carrigan and Sidman is a new account, that it is inconsistent with the old account of Sidman and Tailby (1982), and that the two-choice procedure goes well with the old account. Further, I argue that there are no strong reasons for adopting the new account, and that the recommendation of using three choices in pa rticular is problematic., Nowadays, many behavior analysts study transfer phenomena in human matching to sample. An important concept in this research is the conditional relation (Sidman & Tailby, 1982). Suppose that sample A1 [...]

Four normally developing 2-year-old children were exposed to a story in which six novel characters appeared and were named. To assess learning of the character name → picture relations, all six pictures were presented together as comparisons in matching-to-sample test trials and the children were asked to make selections as each of the six names were dictated as samples. No child learned any of the target relations, but 2 made unreinforced conditional selections (URCSs) to some of the sample names (i.e., made their own one-to-one assignments of sample names to comparison pictures). This was the first time URCS had been demonstrated on an auditory-visual matching task, on any matching task with more than three comparisons, and with children so young. The long-term retention of a specific pattern of URCS was also shown for the first time, with 1 child maintaining his sample-comparison assignments across a 43-day gap in testing. The findings highlight the potential threat of URCS-based false-positive s on tests of young children's emergent matching-to-sample (e.g., in tests of stimulus equivalence or ostensive learning)., In studies of stimulus equivalence, arbitrary (or symbolic) matching-to-sample (MTS) procedures are used to teach subjects stimulus relations and then to assess the nature of those taught relations. On each [...]

It is commonly believed that humans are unable to ignore the meanings of numerical symbols, even when these meanings are irrelevant to the task at hand. In 5 experiments, the authors tested the notion of automatic activation of numerical magnitude by asking participants to compare, while timed, pairs of numerical arrays on either numerosity or numerical value. Garner and Stroop effects were used to gauge the degree of interactive processing. The results showed that both effects were sensitive to the discriminability of values along the constituent dimensions, to the number of stimulus values used, and to practice and motivation. Notably, Stroop and Garner effects were eliminated under several conditions. These findings are incompatible with claims of obligatory activation of meaning in numerical processing, and they cast doubt on theories positing automatic processing of semantic information for alphanumerical symbols.

Three studies examined the impact of downward comparisons on the self. Worse-off others exerted an impact only when participants drew an analogy between themselves and the other. When participants did draw an analogy, the impact of the other on the self was determined by perceived vulnerability to the other's negative fate. When vulnerability was low, downward comparisons enhanced self-evaluations. When vulnerability was high, downward comparisons deflated self-evaluations, but activated a prevention orientation, boosting motivation aimed at avoiding the negative experience of the other.

In the present study, the contributions of spatial and object features to chimpanzees' comprehension of scale models were examined. Seven chimpanzees that previously demonstrated the ability to use a scale model as an information source for the location of a hidden item were tested under conditions manipulating the feature correspondence and spatial-relational correspondence between objects in the model and an outdoor enclosure. In Experiment 1, subjects solved the task under two conditions in which one object cue (color or shape) was unavailable, but positional cues remained. Additionally, performance was above chance under a third condition in which both types of object cues, but not position cues, were available. In Experiment 2, 2 subjects solved the task under a condition in which shape and color object cues were simultaneously unavailable. The results suggest that, much like young children, chimpanzees are sensitive to both object and spatial-relational correspondences between a model and its referent.

The author examines the bases on which self-image is based on ideology versus self-image based on specific aspects of one's life. Topics include influences of work and religion on image, gender differences, and identity content.

According to the internal/external frame of reference model (H. W. Marsh, 1986, 1990a), students not only use social comparisons to evaluate their performance (external frame of reference) but they also use dimensional comparisons (internal frame of reference), comparing their own achievement in one subject with that in other subjects. Three experimental studies were conducted to investigate the psychological processes underlying the effects of achievement in one domain on self-perceived competence in another. In Study 1 (N = 36), high achievement in one domain led to lower self-perceived competence in the other domain. Study 2 (N = 45) showed inverse effects on self-perceived competence when achievement feedback included explicit dimensional comparison information about students' achievement in both tasks. In Study 3 (N = 90), dimensional comparison effects were shown even when additional social comparison information was presented.

This study tested the hypothesis that unrealistic pessimism characterizes comparative estimates of coping ability. Participants rated their ability to adjust to a range of negative life events in comparison to the abilities of other same-sex students at their college. Most coping estimates showed signs of unrealistic pessimism, in that students rated their own abilities as worse than those of other same-sex students. Analyses indicated that this effect was due, in part, to the presence of an egocentric bias and, in part, to the absence of a self-enhancement bias. First, pessimism appeared to arise because participants paid more attention to the difficulties that they would have coping with severe misfortunes than they paid to the difficulties that others would have. Second, pessimism appeared to arise because participants were not motivated to enhance their coping appraisals, given that they were optimistic that they would not experience these events in the future.

Relations among body image satisfaction and social comparisons to either same-sex peers or media models were examined in 2 studies of adolescent boys and girls. In the first study, 9th and 10th graders described their conceptions of attractiveness for same- and opposite-sex adolescents. These attractiveness attributes were then used in Study 2 in which 7th- and 10th-grade boys and girls reported on social comparisons to models/celebrities and same-sex peers. Body dissatisfaction was also assessed. The results confirmed that both same-sex peers and models/celebrities were the targets of social comparisons for physical attributes, but comparisons on personal and social attributes were more likely directed toward same-sex peers. For boys and girls, weight comparisons to both peer and model targets were primary correlates of body dissatisfaction. In addition, shape comparisons reported by the girls and facial comparisons endorsed by the boys also related to body dissatisfaction. Gender differences in social compa rison indicated that girls reported more social comparisons across targets and attributes. Results are discussed in terms of the role of social comparison and peer context for body image during adolescence. KEY WORDS: adolescent girls and boys; social comparison; body image.

This article examines the roles of interpretation, comparison, and knowledge accessibility in the process of impression formation. Findings indicate that when priming is used to activate an interpretive mindset, accessible knowledge contributes to interpretation effects but when a comparison mindset is primed, accessible knowledge produces comparison effects in social judgement.

This article examines self-assessments of college students regarding their future test performance in comparison to the performances of their classmates. Findings indicate that students use unrealistic optimism when predicting their test preparation and performance in comparison to similar others and generally rate themselves as above average.

In two studies, the authors explore the integration of the self-evaluation maintenance (SEM) model and social identity theory (SIT) by focusing on each perspective's predictions for the evaluation of members of one's ingroup. SEM's predictions apply to personal identity concerns, whereas SIT's predictions are applicable to concerns for a group identity. In Study 1, participants evaluated an ingroup member who highly outperformed them. High- and low-identified participants did not differ in their ratings of the target in an interpersonal context but high identifiers did like the target more than lows in an intergroup context. In Study 2, highly identified participants preferred a poorly performing target in an interpersonal context, but in an intergroup context, they preferred the one who outperformed them. Results are discussed in terms of the theoretical overlap between SEM and SIT and how self-categorization theory can help integrate interpersonal and intergroup perspectives on self-evaluation.

The current literature describes a number of mechanisms by which self-esteem is affected and regulated. Using exemplars from three different families of such mechanisms - cognitive consistency, social comparison, and value expression - the three studies reported here (in addition to others in the literature) indicate that these qualitatively different mechanisms are not independent of one another. The evidence is interpreted as showing the unitary nature of self-esteem regulation and that individuals tend to be satisficers rather than maximizers regarding self-esteem.

When do women blame their failure on discrimination? This question was addressed in two experiments by examining the effects of social comparisons on women's attributions for a failing test grade. The results suggest that women are most likely to make an attribution to discrimination when they compare themselves to another woman who received a failing grade and a man who received a better grade from the same male judge. However, these effects only emerge when women are made aware of the possibility that the male judge might be biased against them. The implications of these findings are discussed and future research directions are considered.

This study examines the effects of social comparison on self-esteem. Results indicate that African American students who were outperformed on an intelligence test by an African American confederate experienced enhanced self-esteem due to shared feelings of pride but experienced decreased self esteem when outperformed by White confederates.

The authors investigated the role of personality in everyday social comparisons. Participants were 133 students who completed the NEO Personality Inventory-Revised. For the following 2 weeks, they recorded their comparisons and positive and negative affect using the Rochester Social Comparison Record. Analysis using Hierarchical Linear Modeling showed that people high in Neuroticism reported a greater increase in positive affect after comparing downward than people low on the dimension. Furthermore, people high in Extraversion and low in Agreeableness compared downward more. People high in Openness compared upward more and reported less of a decrease in positive affect after making these comparisons. These findings are discussed in relation to downward comparison theory, the selective-priming model, and the attributes of the five personality dimensions.

Three studies tested the hypothesis that the motive to compensate- to cast favorable light on the self after a threat to self-esteem- can lead people to seek social comparisons. Participants were high self-esteem undergraduates. In Experiment 1, participants who had failed sought more comparisons when they were allowed to compare on their strongest attributes than when they were allowed to compare on their weakest attributes. In Experiment 2, participants had a choice between comparing on a coparticipant's 'superior' or 'average' dimension. Success participants selected the other's strength for comparison, whereas failure participants selected the other's relative weakness. In Experiment 3, failure participants were less likely to seek comparisons if they had already compensated via a self-affirmation task. These studies employed novel or rarely used measured of social comparison, and the results have implications for both the social comparison and self-esteem literatures.

A study was conducted to analyze the role of comparisons in the evaluation of options' attractiveness and the influence of grouping on choice. Two assumptions which imply that whenever the options under consideration have both meaningful advantages and disadvantages were examined. Results indicated a number of observations concerning the importance of grouping in choice. Findings also showed that a same set of options may produce systematically different choices under various groupings.

Associations made between unconditioned stimuli and conditioned stimuli are determined by context. Overshadowing and extinction of overshadowing were used in different contexts with male and female rats. Response to stimuli when overshadowing and extinction were in the same context was different from response when overshadowing and extinction were in different contexts.

People have many ways of protecting themselves against unfavorable social comparisons. Sometimes, however, the unfavorableness of a comparison is too unambiguous to deny. In such circumstances, people may indirectly protect their self-images by exaggerating the ability of those who outperform them. Aggrandizing the outperformer is conceived to be a construal mechanism that permits inferior performers to deflect the self-esteem threat of being outperformed while maintaining believability. The tendency to exaggerate an outperformer's ability was demonstrated in a context in which subjects learned they had been outperformed by a confederate on a perceptual intelligence test. Subjects' and observers' ratings of the confederate's intelligence showed that subjects consistently rated the confederate more favorably than did observers. Using a similar methodology in which subjects outperformed confederates, another study showed that subjects exaggerated the ability of the people they outperformed. The conditions in which these effects are most likely to be obtained are discussed.

According to structure-mapping theory, the process of comparison is one of alignment and mapping between representational structures. This process induces a focus on commonalities and alignable differences (i.e., those related to the commonalities). Nonalignable differences (i.e., those not related to the commonalities) are hem to be neglected. The theory thus predicts increased focus on the corresponding information, whether these are commonalities or differences. In this article, we explore the implications of this claim for memory: Specifically, we test the prediction that alignable differences are more likely to be processed and stored than nonalignable differences. We present a study in which people made similarity comparisons between pairs of pictures and then were probed for recall. The recall probes were figures taken from the pictures and were either alignable or nonalignable differences between the pairs. The alignable differences were better memory probes than the nonalignable differences, suggesting that people were more likely to encode and store the corresponding information than the noncorresponding information., The process comparison is one of alignment and mapping between representational structures, according to structure-mapping theory. The theory suggests increased focus on corresponding information, whether they are commonalities or differences. The implications of the theory for memory are explored. Alignable differences were found to be better memory probes than nonalignable differences, indicating that corresponding information is more likely to be encoded and stored, than noncorresponding information.

Two studies examined feature matching in successive judgments. College students in both studies read about 2 apartments with shared positive and unique negative features, and 1 less globally positive apartment with all unique features. In the feature-cancellation condition, participants first saw the shared-features apartments together and then saw the all-unique apartment. In the no-cancellation condition, participants first saw 1 shared-features apartment and the all-unique apartment together and then saw the other shared-features apartment. Shared-features apartments were rated higher when they were not seen together. The all-unique apartment was rated higher when it was seen last, when the first 2 apartments' shared features canceled out. Study 2 replicated Study 1 and also demonstrated that 2 additional variables failed to moderate the effect. Memory measures suggest that shared features are paired up as an organizational strategy.

This study examined differential comparison standards (i.e., comparative bases for performance evaluation) and their effects on agreement between supervisory raters and self-raters within the context of a performance appraisal system. The purpose of the research was to examine differential comparison standards as an underlying mechanism in the traditionally poor correlation between self and supervisor performance ratings. Supervisor and subordinate rater dyads (N = 106 dyads) evaluated job performance across 3 dimensions, using 5 different comparison standards (ambiguous, internal, absolute, relative, and multiple). Results support the hypotheses, indicating that more explicit and objective comparison standards produced higher levels of interrater agreement. The implications of these findings in terms of comparison standards being adopted in current research and future performance appraisal systems are discussed.

The relationship between self-favoring biases in social comparison, favorable self-presentation, and well-being and the self-other asymmetry effect was examined. Participants gave comparative chance estimations and trait ratings for positive and negative future events and traits. One-half of the participants compared themselves to the average other, while the remainder compared the average other to themselves. All participants completed measurements of two types of desirable responding (self-deception and impression management) and of subjective well-being. Participants who compared themselves to another showed stronger unrealistic optimism and illusory superiority effects for positive (but not for negative) future events and traits than participants comparing another to themselves, demonstrating a self-other asymmetry effect. Unrealistic optimism and illusory superiority concerning positive attributes were related to self-deception, while unrealistic optimism and illusory superiority concerning negative attributes were related to impression management. The relative independence of 'positive' and 'negative' self-favoring biases was further demonstrated by their differential relationship with self-esteem and subjective well-being.

People acquire information about their abilities by comparison, and research suggests that people restrict such comparisons to those whom they consider sources of diagnostic information. We suggest that diagnosticity is often considered only after comparisons are made and that people do not fail to make nondiagnostic comparisons so much as they mentally undo them. In 2 studies, participants made nondiagnostic comparisons even when they knew they should not, and quickly unmade them when they were able. These results suggest that social comparisons may be relatively spontaneous, effortless, and unintentional reactions to the performances of others and that they may occur even when people consider such reactions logically inappropriate.

Research in which people compare themselves with an average peer has consistently shown that people evaluate themselves more favorably than they evaluate others. Seven studies were conducted to demonstrate that the magnitude of this better-than-average effect depends on the level of abstraction in the comparison. These studies showed that people were less biased when they compared themselves with an individuated target than when they compared themselves with a nonindividuated target, namely, the average college student. The better-than-average effect was reduced more when the observer had personal contact with the comparison target than when no personal contact was established. Differences in the magnitude of the better-than-average effect could not be attributed to the contemporaneous nature of the target's presentation, communication from the target, perceptual vividness, implied evaluation, or perceptions of similarity.

In a sample of 168 Dutch individuals falling under the Disablement Insurance Act, it was found that (a) uncertainty and frustration were related to a need for social comparison; (b) the desire for information about similar others was stronger than the desire for affiliation with such others; (c) the evaluation of one's situation was particularly affected by health problems and independently by the perception of being worse off than others; (d) there was a relatively stronger preference for contact with, and information about, others who were better off among those evaluating their own situation negatively; (e) individuals were more interested in obtaining information about comparable others who were coping better than in talking to such others; and (f) there were stronger upward preferences on the coping dimension than on the problem severity dimension. The results are discussed in the context of Taylor and Lobel's model.

Is it possible to construct valid explanations of behavioral phenomena from differences found among naturally existing groups? Many of psychology's cherished findings in such domains as intellectual performance and temperament rest on differences of this kind. A venerable and rich literature on selection and selection effects both reminds us that naturally existing groups might or might not derive from a common parent population and warns that valid decisions between these alternatives are often jeopardized by the very methods on which those decisions rest. We examine these matters within the context of intellectual performance, illustrate key points with an analysis of data, and examine the implications for current research on differences in ability levels.

When learning about a category, people often compare new instances with similar old instances and notice features common to the compared instances. Five experiments demonstrate that such comparisons cause features common to compared instances to be considered more important for the category than equally frequent features that are not common to compared instances. Experiment 1 shows that what is learned depends on which instances are compared. Experiment 2 investigates the conditions under which comparison-based learning occurs. The next experiments find that these comparisons affect subjective feature frequency (Experiment 3) and sensitivity to feature correlations (Experiment 4). Experiment 5 shows that comparisons during early learning affect what is learned from later instances. The discussion focuses on the implications for models of category representation.

People with low self-esteem (LSE) seem to focus on self-protection; rather than trying to achieve gains for their self-esteem, they try to avoid losses. This research examined, in a social comparison context, the hypothesis that LSEs seek self-enhancement when they have an opportunity that is 'safe,' that is, carrying little risk of humiliation. Experiments 1 and 2 indicated that LSEs sought the most social comparisons after receiving success feedback, whereas high-self-esteem Ss (HSEs) sought the most comparisons after failure. Further results suggested that LSEs who succeeded were seizing a safe means of self-enhancement and that HSEs who failed were seeking to compensate for the failure. Also supporting this interpretation for LSEs was Experiment 3, in which LSEs who succeeded sought the most comparisons when such comparisons promised to be favorable. All three studies illustrate the value of a new measure of social comparison selection.

Although the hypothesis that people will alter comparison behavior in response to threat is consistent with the formulation of social comparison theory, the empirical evidence for the natural occurrence of such shifts is weak. Two studies were conducted to examine this hypothesis. In the first study, adolescents' perceptions were assessed before, during, and 6 months after their participation in an academic program for gifted students. Male students who performed poorly, and also worse than they had expected in the program, demonstrated self-protective 'strategies' by lowering the amount and level of academic comparison they reported engaging in and by lowering their perception of the importance of academics. Female students, who generally performed as well as expected, reported relatively little change. By follow-up, most of the male students' perceptions had returned to baseline. A second study found that both male and female college students who thought they had performed poorly academically also demonstrated these shifts in comparison. Motivations behind the strategies are discussed.