“What’ve I done to deserve this?” The role of deservingness in reactions to being an upward comparison target

Abstract

Outperforming others may be an ambivalent experience, simultaneously evoking pride and discomfort. Two experiments examined the role of deservingness in reactions to being an upward comparison target. Study 1 took place online and experimentally manipulated deservingness by modifying a self-report measure of Sensitivity about Being the Target of a Threatening Upward Comparison (STTUC). Participants predicted more distress and less positive affect under conditions of undeserved (vs. deserved) success; several individual difference variables moderated these effects. Study 2 systematically varied a confederate’s effort to manipulate the perceived deservingness of an outperformed person. Participants were especially likely to downplay their score in the presence of a confederate who appeared to work hard on a task but nevertheless performed poorly. Collectively, findings suggest that people respond most strongly to STTUC when a mismatch exists between deservingness and outcomes.

Success with a twinge of distress: Antecedents and consequences of outperformance‐related discomfort

“…The positive relationship between threat and positive responses was unexpected and may reflect participants' using outperformed persons' upset reaction as information about the strength of their own performance. In a previously mentioned scenario study, positive affect was significantly lower-and negative affect significantly higher-when participants imagined undeservedly outperforming others (Koch & Totton, 2017).…”

“…The positive relationship between threat and positive responses was unexpected and may reflect participants' using outperformed persons' upset reaction as information about the strength of their own performance. In a previously mentioned scenario study, positive affect was significantly lower—and negative affect significantly higher—when participants imagined undeservedly outperforming others (Koch & Totton, 2017). Other research (involving one student and one community sample) suggests that outperformers may even adjust the self‐relevance of a domain downward (i.e., reporting a domain as less important to the self than one normally would) after outperforming a spouse, although this study did not examine STTUC directly (Beach et al., 2001).…”

“…In the low‐deservingness condition, the scenarios involved the participant not deserving to do well and a target deserving to do well. Results indicated that participants anticipated significantly more negative affect and less positive affect in the low‐deservingness condition (Koch & Totton, 2017). In a follow‐up laboratory experiment, female undergraduate participants who ostensibly outperformed a confederate who presumably deserved to do well (because she put forth visible effort) were significantly more likely to downplay their success than were participants in a confederate‐low‐deservingness or control condition (in which the confederate neither visibly put forth effort nor slacked off; Koch & Totton, 2017).…”

“…Additional strategies that outperformers may use in managing interactions with the outperformed include appeasement and avoidance. Appeasement strategies (i.e., strategies that attempt to make the outperformed feel better) include revealing past failures (Brooks et al., 2019), displaying warmth (Swencionis & Fiske, 2018), downplaying success (Henagan & Bedeian, 2009; Koch & Totton, 2017), helping the outperformed (when fearing malicious envy; van de Ven et al., 2010), and sharing a prize (Zell & Exline, 2010). Appeasement may be the strategy of choice when people outperform someone likeable (Exline & Lobel, 2001).…”