Objective Information and Social Comparison Seeking

Ethan Zell

Department of Psychology

Faculty ponsor: Dr. Justin Buckingham

(2004)

Does objective information quell the drive to compare to others?

In this experiment, we examined whether the availability of objective standards affects people's tendency to actively seek social comparisons. 93 female undergraduate psychology students took a ten-item lie detection test and received scores of 4, 6, or 8 out of ten. Participants then completed a computer questionnaire assessing self-evaluations. In addition, the questionnaire assessed social comparison seeking by giving participants the option to look at 12 different pieces of comparison information.

Feedback had significant effects on participants' ratings of their lie detection ability, confidence in ability, and mood. The higher the score, the higher their ratings and the better their mood. However, feedback had no significant effect on interest in social comparison information. On average, participants wanted to see about 4 pieces of social comparison information. Feedback clearly affects participants' mood and self-evaluations. It's unclear why it doesn't affect comparison choices.

Links

Updated July 11, 2004