Compared to What? The Importance of Control Groups in Social Comparison Research
Compared to What? The Importance of Control Groups in Social Comparison Research
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DOI：
10.1080/01973533.2017.1281808
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发表时间：
2017-01-01
影响因子：
2.4
通讯作者：
Bruchmann, Kathryn
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Bruchmann, Kathryn
两个实验证明了对照组在社会比较研究中的重要性。当与向下的目标进行比较比与向上的目标进行比较时，会产生更有利的自我评价，结果通常被解释为展示双向对比效应。然而，如果没有无比较对照组，这些说法就无法得到支持。目前的实验为参与者提供了表现反馈；一些参与者收到了有关向上目标、向下目标或双向目标（一个向上，一个向下）的信息。结果表明，社会比较效应并不总是双向的：向下和双向比较导致对比，而向上比较与对照没有不同。实验 2 评估了横向目标的作用。总体而言，结果表明应重新审查对比效应的现有解释。
Two experiments demonstrate the importance of control groups in social comparison research. When comparing to downward targets leads to more favorable self-evaluations than comparing to upward targets, results are often interpreted as demonstrating bidirectional contrast effects. However, without a no-comparison control group, these claims cannot be supported. The present experiments provided participants with performance feedback; some participants received information about an upward target, a downward target, or a bidirectional target (one upward, one downward). Results suggest that social comparison effects are not always bidirectional: Downward and bidirectional comparisons led to contrast whereas upward comparisons were not different from the control. Experiment 2 assessed the role of lateral targets. Overall, results suggest that existing interpretations of contrast effects should be reexamined.