The influence of comparison processes on movement and effector compatibility effects

比较过程是人类认知的一个基本要素，它们对感知和社会判断的重要性是众所周知的。然而，以往的研究在很大程度上忽视了比较过程在社会互动中的作用。我们建议通过测试比较过程对个体如何将自己的行为映射到他人身上的影响来填补这一空白。具体地说，我们将测试这一预测，即与不同之处相比，关注相似之处会增加运动的效果和效应器的兼容性。过去的研究表明，观察另一个人正在执行的动作有助于该动作的执行。通过使用刺激-反应一致性任务，认知心理学家通过研究两个重要的潜在因素来测试这种现象的机制--即运动和效应器兼容性。研究发现，当个体面对群体外成员、非人类代理人时，当他们处于竞争模式而不是合作模式时，或者与第一人称视角相比，他们从第三人称视角观察行为时，这种相容效应会减弱。由于这些变量中的几个也会影响社会比较的结果，我们认为，仅仅关注自己和另一个人之间的相似性会增加运动和效应器兼容性的影响。该项目提案基于进行的四项试点研究，这些研究表明，与不同之处相比，注重相似之处确实会增加运动和效应器的兼容性效果。有趣的是，第四项初步研究表明，仅仅通过增加另一个人的效应器的亮度来突出该效应器就足以唤起这种效果。在目前的研究提案中，我们旨在通过严格调查潜在机制以及可能的替代解释来扩展这一初步工作。该项目分为三个工作包(WPS)。通过测试潜在的替代解释，在WP1中，我们将测试仅仅通过增加效应器的亮度来引导参与者对效应器的注意力是否真的足以解释这种效果。虽然WP1将研究运动和效应器相容效应中的过程，WP2将测试比较过程中的机制，WP3将测试我们的发现在情感领域的概括性。调查社会比较对运动和效应器相容效应的影响可能允许揭示一个因果过程，可能潜在地阐明比较过程如何与实际社会互动相联系的开放问题。此外，该项目将通过提出一个模型，允许将不同的主持人整合到一个共同的框架中，从而为运动过程和效应器的兼容性提供一个新的视角。

Comparative processes are a fundamental element of human cognition and their importance for perception and social judgments is well known. However, past research has largely neglected the role of comparison processes in social interactions. We propose to fill this gap by testing the influence of comparison processes on how individuals map their own actions onto others. Specifically, we will test the prediction that focusing on similarities, as compared to dissimilarities, increases effects of movement and effector compatibility.Past research has shown that observing another person performing an action facilitates the execution of that action. By using stimulus-response congruency tasks, cognitive psychologists test the mechanisms of such phenomena by investigating two important underlying components-that is movement and effector compatibility. Research has found that such compatibility effects are reduced when individuals are faced with out-group members, non-human agents, when they are in a competitive mode as compared to a cooperative mode, or when they observe actions from a third-person perspective as compared to a first-person perspective. As several of these variables also affect the outcomes of social comparisons, we propose that merely focusing on similarities between oneself and another person increases effects of movement and effector compatibility. The project proposal is based on four conducted pilot studies indicating that focusing on similarities, as compared to dissimilarities, indeed increases movement and effector compatibility effects. Interestingly, the fourth pilot study indicates that merely highlighting another person's effector by the means of increased brightness of that effector is sufficient to evoke this effect. In the present research proposal, we aim at extending this initial work by rigorously investigating the underlying mechanisms as well as possible alternative explanations. The project is divided into three Work Packages (WPs). By testing potential alternative explanations, in WP1, we will test whether merely guiding participants' attention to an effector by the means of increasing the effector's brightness is indeed sufficient to account for the effect. While WP1 will investigate the processes within movement and effector compatibility effects, WP2 will test mechanisms within comparison processes, and WP3 will test the generalizability of our findings to the emotional domain.Investigating the influence of social comparisons on movement and effector compatibility effects may allow to uncover a causal process that can potentially elucidate the open question of how comparison processes are linked to actual social interactions. Furthermore, the project will offer a new perspective on the process of movement and effector compatibility by putting forward a model that allows integrating different moderators into a common framework.