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，它对感知和社会判断的重要性是众所周知的。然而，过去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人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。具体来说，我们将测试这样一种预测，即专注于相似性，而不是差异性，会增加运动和效应器兼容性的效果。过去的研究表明，观察另一个人的行为会促进该行为的执行。通过使用刺激-反应一致性任务，认知心理学家通过调查两个重要的潜在成分——运动和效应相容性——来测试这种现象的机制。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，或者当他们从第三人称视角而不是第一人称视角观察行为时，这种兼容性效应会降低。由于这些变量中的一些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者兼容性的影响。该项目提案基于四项已进行的试点研究，这些研究表明，与不同之处相比，关注相似之处确实增加了运动和效果兼容效果。有趣的是，第四个试点研究表明，仅仅通过增加效应器的亮度来突出另一个人的效应器就足以引起这种效果。在目前的研究计划中，我们的目标是通过严格调查潜在的机制以及可能的替代解释来扩展这项初步工作。该项目分为三个工作包（wp）。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注意效应器是否确实足以解释效果。WP1将研究运动过程和效应兼容效应，WP2将测试比较过程中的机制，而WP3将测试我们的发现在情绪领域的普遍性。研究社会比较对运动和效应者相容性效应的影响可能有助于揭示一个因果过程，从而潜在地阐明比较过程如何与实际社会互动联系起来的开放性问题。此外，该项目将通过提出一个允许将不同的调节器集成到一个共同框架中的模型，为运动过程和效应器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.