Biased Social Comparison in the Moment of Crisis

Kulesza, Wojciech; Doliński, Dariusz; Muniak, Paweł; Winner, Daisy; Izydorczak, Kamil; Derakhshan, Ali; Rizulla, Aidana

doi:10.1027/1864-9335/a000495

Cited by 4 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…We were unable to identify any research disconfirming UO bias toward possible COVID-19 infection under COVID-19 threat. Given that—to the best of our knowledge—almost no research was conducted on the BTAE during the COVID-19 pandemic (e.g., Kulesza et al, 2022 ), we decided to focus on the well-established UO bias. The fact that we could also run our studies in the same circumstances of the already investigated COVID-19 pandemic provided a further reason in favor of targeting UO.…”

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confidence: 99%

It Matters to Whom You Compare Yourself: The Case of Unrealistic Optimism and Gender-Specific Comparisons

et al. 2023

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Unrealistic Optimism (UO) appears when comparing participants’ risk estimates for themselves with an average peer, which typically results in lower risk estimates for the self. This article reports nuanced effects when comparison varies in terms of the gender of the peer. In three studies (total N = 2,468, representative sample), we assessed people’s risk estimates for COVID-19 infections for peers with the same or other gender. If a peer’s gender is not taken into account, previous studies were replicated: Compared with others, participants perceived themselves as less likely to get infected with COVID-19. Interestingly, this effect was qualified by gender: Respondents perceived women as less threatened than men because women are perceived as more cautious and compliant with medical guidelines.

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Section: Goal Of the Articlementioning

confidence: 99%

It Matters to Whom You Compare Yourself: The Case of Unrealistic Optimism and Gender-Specific Comparisons

et al. 2023

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“…They found that prosocial intentions can be enhanced by prompting people to mentally simulate the consequences of their actions or inducing empathic concern for others, but that individual differences in empathic traits were the most reliable predictor of prosocial intentions, independent of health interventions. Kulesza et al (2023) examine the better-than-average effect (BTAE) during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 before vaccines had become widely available. Participants from Poland, Kazakhstan, and Iran indicated higher compliance with health recommendations such as social distancing compared to their peers.…”

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confidence: 99%

“Understanding Others in Moments of Crisis” A Special Issue of Social Psychology

et al. 2023

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How Did We Forge a Bearable Reality in COVID-19? Biases in Social Comparative Judgments in a Time of Pervasive Threat

Kulesza

Doliński

2023

SpringerBriefs in Psychology

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In this chapter we present a very special form of social illusions: unrealistic pessimism (the expectation that negative events will happen to us in comparison to others who will be less affected by negative events like earthquakes or radioactive pollution). On that basis, we were interested in which illusions, which are associated with appearing in the moment of crisis, will appear during the eruption of the COVID-19 pandemic: that is, unrealistic optimism or pessimism (I perceive myself as less or more threatened than others) and the better-than-average effect.It turned out that unrealistic optimism was present from the very beginning and did not disappear even when our respondents were delivered clear data (e.g., number of casualties, the rapid growth of cases) showing that all societies around the world were in great danger.In this chapter we also present global studies showing how widespread this phenomenon is.Interestingly, in our studies the better-than-average effect was also present in many countries: respondents perceived themselves as more involved in actions preventing COVID-19 infection whilst others were less involved.

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Biased Social Comparison in the Moment of Crisis

Cited by 4 publications

References 39 publications

It Matters to Whom You Compare Yourself: The Case of Unrealistic Optimism and Gender-Specific Comparisons

It Matters to Whom You Compare Yourself: The Case of Unrealistic Optimism and Gender-Specific Comparisons

“Understanding Others in Moments of Crisis” A Special Issue of Social Psychology

How Did We Forge a Bearable Reality in COVID-19? Biases in Social Comparative Judgments in a Time of Pervasive Threat

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