"What've I done to deserve this?" The role of deservingness in reactions to being an upward comparison target

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erika Koch
2016 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-25
Author(s):  
Erika J. Koch ◽  
Shawnee F.M. Totton

Outperforming others may be an ambivalent experience, simultaneously evoking pride and discomfort. Two experiments examined the role of deservingness in reactions to being an upward comparison target. Study 1 took place online and experimentally manipulated deservingness by modifying a self-report measure of Sensitivity about Being the Target of a Threatening Upward Comparison (STTUC). Participants predicted more distress and less positive affect under conditions of undeserved (vs. deserved) success; several individual difference variables moderated these effects. Study 2 systematically varied a confederate’s effort to manipulate the perceived deservingness of an outperformed person. Participants were especially likely to downplay their score in the presence of a confederate who appeared to work hard on a task but nevertheless performed poorly. Collectively, findings suggest that people respond most strongly to STTUC when a mismatch exists between deservingness and outcomes.


Author(s):  
Stephen M. Garcia ◽  
Zachary A. Reese ◽  
Avishalom Tor

This chapter provides an overview of the interplay between social comparison and competition before, during, and after the competition. Competition is defined broadly to include an act or process of competition, explicit or implicit, linked to basic social comparison processes. Before the competition, the authors consider the lessons of the social comparison literature on motives, individual differences, cultural and social norms, and competition entry decisions. The authors then review relevant findings on the role of individual factors (personal and relational) as well as situational factors that affect motivation and competitive behavior during the competition. Finally, the chapter examines the social comparison literature on downward comparison, upward comparison, and competition re-entry decisions after the competition.


JAMA ◽  
1966 ◽  
Vol 195 (12) ◽  
pp. 1005-1009 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. J. Fernbach
Keyword(s):  

JAMA ◽  
1966 ◽  
Vol 195 (3) ◽  
pp. 167-172 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. E. Van Metre

2018 ◽  
Vol 41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Winnifred R. Louis ◽  
Craig McGarty ◽  
Emma F. Thomas ◽  
Catherine E. Amiot ◽  
Fathali M. Moghaddam

AbstractWhitehouse adapts insights from evolutionary anthropology to interpret extreme self-sacrifice through the concept of identity fusion. The model neglects the role of normative systems in shaping behaviors, especially in relation to violent extremism. In peaceful groups, increasing fusion will actually decrease extremism. Groups collectively appraise threats and opportunities, actively debate action options, and rarely choose violence toward self or others.


2018 ◽  
Vol 41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin Arceneaux

AbstractIntuitions guide decision-making, and looking to the evolutionary history of humans illuminates why some behavioral responses are more intuitive than others. Yet a place remains for cognitive processes to second-guess intuitive responses – that is, to be reflective – and individual differences abound in automatic, intuitive processing as well.


2020 ◽  
Vol 43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefen Beeler-Duden ◽  
Meltem Yucel ◽  
Amrisha Vaish

Abstract Tomasello offers a compelling account of the emergence of humans’ sense of obligation. We suggest that more needs to be said about the role of affect in the creation of obligations. We also argue that positive emotions such as gratitude evolved to encourage individuals to fulfill cooperative obligations without the negative quality that Tomasello proposes is inherent in obligations.


2020 ◽  
Vol 43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Whiten

Abstract The authors do the field of cultural evolution a service by exploring the role of non-social cognition in human cumulative technological culture, truly neglected in comparison with socio-cognitive abilities frequently assumed to be the primary drivers. Some specifics of their delineation of the critical factors are problematic, however. I highlight recent chimpanzee–human comparative findings that should help refine such analyses.


2020 ◽  
Vol 43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Parr

Abstract This commentary focuses upon the relationship between two themes in the target article: the ways in which a Markov blanket may be defined and the role of precision and salience in mediating the interactions between what is internal and external to a system. These each rest upon the different perspectives we might take while “choosing” a Markov blanket.


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