Stepping back to see what matters: Psychological distance reduces diagnosticity neglect in social comparison

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Yudkin
Keyword(s):  
Social Comparison ◽  
Real World ◽  
Social Comparisons ◽  
Psychological Distance ◽  
The Self ◽  
Bean Bag ◽  
Nondiagnostic Information ◽  
What Matters

Social comparisons differ in their diagnosticity—that is, in the extent to which their outcomes are attributable to sources internal versus external to the self. While logic suggests that people should give more credence to diagnostic than to nondiagnostic comparisons, research shows that people often overlook comparison diagnosticity, leading them to drawing inaccurate conclusions about themselves—a phenomenon known as diagnosticity neglect. Here I examine a process that may reduce diagnosticity neglect: psychological distance. Because psychological distance—and the mental abstraction it engenders—helps people to organize information hierarchically, it may allow people to better distinguish between diagnostic and nondiagnostic information. Four experiments, using two distinct tasks (a bean bag throwing game and an anagrams quiz) and two forms of psychological distance (social and hypothetical), confirm these predictions; a preregistered fifth experiment demonstrates their real-world consequences. Overall, this research highlights the power of psychological distance to reduce diagnosticity neglect.

How Social Comparison Affects the Self

2019 ◽  
pp. 32-51
Author(s):  
Thomas Mussweiler
Keyword(s):  
Social Comparison ◽  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Social Comparisons ◽  
The Self ◽  
Behavioral Consequences ◽  
Social Standard ◽  
Self Knowledge ◽  
Selective Accessibility Model

Social comparisons have powerful effects on the self. They influence how people see themselves, how they feel about themselves, and how they behave. The selective accessibility model attributes these self-evaluative, affective, motivational, and behavioral consequences of social comparison to changes in the accessibility of self-knowledge. Comparing to a social standard changes what knowledge about the self is accessible, which, in turn, produces the variety of downstream comparison consequences. This chapter provides an overview of the selective accessibility model along with the pertinent empirical evidence.

Social Comparison

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zlatan Krizan
Keyword(s):  
Social Comparison ◽  
Role Models ◽  
Social Comparisons ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Social Identities ◽  
The Self ◽  
Human Functioning ◽  
Self Knowledge ◽  
Selection Of ◽  
Better Than

Social comparison activity is one of the most important spheres of human functioning; it is necessary for appraising where one stands within his or her community and for establishing viable routes for connecting with others. Social comparison is thus a critical psychological phenomenon essential to understanding both social behavior and formation of identity. To this end, individuals look to similar others to evaluate their own abilities and opinions, look to those better than themselves for inspiration and guidance, and evaluate others depending on similarities and distinctions with the self. In addition, they evaluate their own position in life with reference to other’s positions, look to others for information about social norms and for clues about how to behave, and experience feelings toward others based on implications of mutual differences for their relationship. This renders the nature of social comparisons complex; they take horizontal forms that focus on connections or distinction, as well as vertical forms that focus on superiority or inferiority. Moreover, they may be experienced through interaction, subjectively constructed in one’s mind, or deliberately orchestrated in order to impact others. Complexities of social comparison activity are commensurate with multiple functions that they serve. First, people compare with others in order to gain self-knowledge and reduce uncertainty. Comparisons that fulfill this function typically occur with similar others, are biased toward comparing with those slightly better off, and are sensitive to diagnosticity that information about others carries for oneself. Second, people compare with others in order to self-enhance and protect well-being. Comparisons that fulfill this function often involve contrasting oneself from those worse off, although they can also involve perceiving similarities with superior others, especially when these are role models or close others. Third, people compare in order to self-improve, namely, boost their skills and abilities. Such comparisons typically occur with others that are better, yet similar in relevant attributes, and in domains that leave room for personal progress. Fourth and final, people compare in order to connect socially with others. Such comparisons occur through regular social interaction as individuals emphasize mutual similarities, through creation of comparisons to protect or embolden others, and through selection of social identities that maximize a sense of group belonging.

Envy and Social Comparison

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Niels van de Ven ◽  
Marcel Zeelenberg
Keyword(s):  
Social Comparison ◽  
Social Comparisons ◽  
Past Work ◽  
Good Fortune ◽  
Malicious Envy ◽  
The Social ◽  
Upward Social Comparison

Upward social comparison can give rise to the emotion of envy: the pain caused by the good fortune of others. We explain what envy is, and what the possible function of envy is to an organism experiencing it. We provide an overview of past work on envy, the distinction between two subtypes (benign and malicious envy), possible antecedents of envy, possible consequences of envy, and the responses to being envied by others. In each of these areas there are clear links to research on social comparison, and research on envy has greatly benefitted from insights from the social comparison literature. Given the surge in research on envy in the last decade, we hope that the findings on envy can also inspire those investigating social comparisons.

The Self-Threat of Unsolicited Social Comparison and Its Balance

2013 ◽  
Vol 44 (12) ◽  
pp. 1628-1640
Author(s):  
Xiao-Yan HAN ◽  
Yu-Kai CHI
Keyword(s):  
Social Comparison ◽  
The Self

Comparison of the self-expanding Evolut-PRO transcatheter aortic valve to its predecessor Evolut-R in the real world multicenter ATLAS registry

2020 ◽  
Vol 310 ◽  
pp. 120-125
Author(s):  
Konstantinos Kalogeras ◽  
Neil Ruparelia ◽  
Tito Kabir ◽  
Richard Jabbour ◽  
Toru Naganuma ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Aortic Valve ◽  
Real World ◽  
The Self ◽  
The Real ◽  
Transcatheter Aortic Valve

scholarly journals Moving family interventions into the real world: What matters to oncology stakeholders?

2018 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 264-284 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chelsea G. Ratcliff ◽  
Cynthia A. Vinson ◽  
Kathrin Milbury ◽  
Hoda Badr
Keyword(s):  
Real World ◽  
Family Interventions ◽  
The Real ◽  
What Matters

scholarly journals Performance-based Social Comparisons in Humans and Long-tailed Macaques

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 325-350
Author(s):  
Stefanie Keupp ◽  
Farhan Abedin ◽  
Lena Jeanson ◽  
Carolin Kade ◽  
Josefine Kalbitz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Comparison ◽  
Task Performance ◽  
Social Comparisons ◽  
Task Type ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Evolutionary Origins ◽  
Human Thinking ◽  
Human Participants ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Foraging Task

Social comparisons are a fundamental feature of human thinking and affect self-evaluations and task performance. Little is known about the evolutionary origins of social comparison processes, however. Previous studies that investigated performance-based social comparisons in nonhuman primates yielded mixed results. We report three experiments that aimed (a) to explore how the task type may contribute to performance in monkeys, and (b) how a competitive set-up affects monkeys compared to humans. In a co-action touchscreen task, monkeys were neither influenced by nor interested in the performance of the partner. This may indicate that the experimental set-up was not sufficiently relevant to trigger social comparisons. In a novel co-action foraging task, monkeys increased their feeding speed in competitive and co-active conditions, but not in relation to the degree of competition. In an analogue of the foraging task, human participants were affected by partner performance and experimental context, indicating that the task is suitable to elicit social comparisons in humans. Our studies indicate that specifics of task and experimental setting are relevant to draw the monkeys’ attention to a co-actor and that, in line with previous research, a competitive element was crucial. We highlight the need to explore what constitutes “relevant” social comparison situations for monkeys as well as nonhuman animals in general, and point out factors that we think are crucial in this respect (e.g., task type, physical closeness, and the species’ ecology). We discuss that early forms of social comparisons evolved in purely competitive environments with increasing social tolerance and cooperative motivations allowing for more fine-grained processing of social information. Competition driven effects on task performance might constitute the foundation for the more elaborate social comparison processes found in humans, which may involve context-dependent information processing and metacognitive monitoring.

scholarly journals Biblical Inspirations in Nikifor’s Paintings

2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 31-46
Author(s):  
Krzysztof Wałczyk
Keyword(s):  
Real World ◽  
The Self ◽  
Creative Activity ◽  
The Real ◽  
Ideal World ◽  
The World ◽  
Biblical Anthropology ◽  
Divine Order ◽  
The Ideal

Nikifor Krynicki (Epifaniusz Drowniak, 1895-1968) was one of the most popular non-academic Polish painters worldwide. To show the biblical inspiration in his creative output I chose two categories from various thematic aspects: self-portraits and landscapes with a church. There are plenty of Nikifor’s paintings showing him as a teacher, as a celebrating priest, as a bishop, or even as Christ. A pop­ular way to explain this idea of self-portraits is a psychological one: as a form of auto-therapy. This analysis is aims to show a deeper expla­nation for the biblical anthropology. Nikifor’s self-portraits as a priest celebrating the liturgy are a symbol of creative activity understood as a divine re-creation of the world. Such activity needs divine inspira­tion. Here are two paintings to recall: Potrójny autoportret (The triple self-portrait) and Autoportret w trzech postaciach (Self-portrait in three persons). The proper way to understand the self-identification with Christ needs a reference to biblical anthropology. To achieve our re­al-self we need to identify with Christ, whose death and resurrection bring about our whole humanity. The key impression we may have by showing Nikifor’s landscapes with a church is harmony. The painter used plenty of warm colors. Many of the critics are of the opinion that Nikifor created an imaginary, ideal world in his landscapes, the world he wanted to be there and not the real world. The thesis of this article is that Nikifor created not only the ideal world, but he also showed the source of the harmony – the divine order.

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