Comparisons Across Dimensions, People, and Time: On the Primacy of Social Comparison in Self-Evaluations

Zell, Ethan; Strickhouser, Jason E.

doi:10.1177/1948550619884564

Cited by 29 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…Results showed that both social and dimensional comparisons produced contrast effects on self-evaluations (i.e., downward comparisons increased self-evaluations), and that social comparisons elicited more robust effects. These findings conceptually replicate experimental studies in academic contexts (e.g., Strickhouser & Zell, 2015;Zell & Strickhouser, 2020) and extend such findings to health-related contexts.…”

Section: Dimensional Comparisons In Health Behavior Contextssupporting

confidence: 83%

Exploring the impact of dimensional comparisons in health contexts

Edmonds

Rose

2022

Social & Personality Psych

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Did I exercise enough this week?" "Should I eat that last donut?" "Am I in good shape?" Due to the ambiguity and difficulty of answering such questions, people often use comparison-based information to contextualize their standing, inform self-evaluations, and guide behavior. For example, to ascertain whether they have exercised enough, people can make social comparisons to peers (e.g., "Have I exercised more than my friends?") or temporal comparisons of the present to the past (e.g., "Have I exercised more this week than last week?"). While ample research has examined the relevance and impact of social and temporal comparisons in a range of health contexts (e.g., health behaviors, risk perceptions), the overarching goal of the present review was to explicate the potential relevance and impact of a third type of comparison standard-dimensional comparisons-in health contexts (with an emphasis on health behaviors like exercise). First, we discuss how social and temporal comparisons shape self-evaluations in both health and non-health contexts. Second, we provide an overview of research conducted on dimensional comparisons in non-health contexts and discuss how comparison sources shape self-evaluations and self-concept formation. Third, we explore the potential impact and relevance of dimensional comparisons on self-evaluations in health behavior

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Section: Dimensional Comparisons In Health Behavior Contextssupporting

confidence: 83%

Exploring the impact of dimensional comparisons in health contexts

Edmonds

Rose

2022

Social & Personality Psych

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“…This implies that people with little experience must use proof from other domains in their life, such as how well they can handle relationships in general, or by observing other people interact with a dog (vicarious learning). Another way of estimating one's own ability is by making social comparisons [22], which are highly important in the process of self-evaluation [23]. In social comparisons, people compare their own ability with the abilities of other specific people (e.g., their neighbors) or in a more generalized manner (e.g., a constructed mental image of dog-owners in general).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Expectations Versus Reality: Long-Term Research on the Dog–Owner Relationship

Bouma

Vink

Dijkstra

2020

Animals

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In the framework of the early prevention of problems in the owner–dog relationship, it is important to have a broad perspective on the development of this relationship over time, starting before people actually acquire a dog. People who currently (or previously) own(ed) a dog can rely on their experiences when considering a new dog, while this knowledge is unavailable to first time dog-owners. In this study, we explore how self-efficacy, social comparison, perceptions about the (dis)advantages of ownership and commitment to the dog (so-called social cognitive factors), problematic canine behaviors, perceived costs, and satisfaction with the dog change over time. We examine changes from the motivational phase of relationship development (before acquisition of the dog) into the experience phase (six and twelve months after acquisition of the dog). We explore if patterns are different in experienced (previous (n = 73) and current (n = 80)) versus unexperienced (first time (n = 30) dog owners. The respondents filled in three online questionnaires—once before and twice after acquisition of their dog. From T0 (before acquisition of the dog) to T1 (having the dog for six months) participants (especially those with no ownership experience) had to adjust their perceptions about dogs and dog ownership. Experiencing the relationship for an additional year (from T1 to T2) barely changed the social cognitive factors, satisfaction, and perceived costs. A small decline in problematic canine behaviors was present among the experienced dog owners between T1 and T2. To conclude, perceptions about dogs and dog ownership change over time, but after testing these perceptions with reality, they become stable after about six months.

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Section: F I G U R Ementioning

confidence: 98%

“…In line with the I/E model studies, the social comparison effects exceeded the dimensional comparison effects. The temporal comparison effects, if examined, were only sometimes significant (Müller‐Kalthoff et al., 2017; Wolff, Helm, Zimmermann, et al., 2018; but see; Zell & Strickhouser, 2020). Nonetheless, the experimental findings overall further substantiated the assumption that social, dimensional, and temporal comparisons have causal and additive effects on students' domain‐specific self‐concepts.…”

Section: Dimensional Comparison Effectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dimensional comparisons: Much is known about the effects, less about the processes

Wolff

2022

Social & Personality Psych

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Dimensional comparisons are comparisons between different domains. They are well known in educational psychology. Here, they explain the seemingly paradoxical finding that students' math and verbal self‐concepts of ability usually show correlations close to zero, although students' math and verbal achievements show strong positive correlations. This finding can be explained by the fact that students overemphasize potential differences between their math and verbal achievements when they form their self‐concepts. However, dimensional comparisons also take place and affect self‐evaluations outside the educational context, and the number of studies examining dimensional comparisons in different contexts has significantly increased during the last few years. This paper provides an up‐to‐date overview of findings on dimensional comparisons. It presents findings from studies that have examined effects of dimensional comparisons (as most studies dealing with dimensional comparisons have done so far), as well as studies that have focused on an understanding of the psychological processes involved in dimensional comparison (which relatively few studies have done so far). It is hoped that this paper will help broaden awareness of dimensional comparisons and stimulate further research on this type of comparison, especially in disciplines other than educational psychology.

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Comparisons Across Dimensions, People, and Time: On the Primacy of Social Comparison in Self-Evaluations

Cited by 29 publications

References 28 publications

Exploring the impact of dimensional comparisons in health contexts

Exploring the impact of dimensional comparisons in health contexts

Expectations Versus Reality: Long-Term Research on the Dog–Owner Relationship

Dimensional comparisons: Much is known about the effects, less about the processes

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