Social Comparison-Based Thoughts in Groups: Their Associations With Interpersonal Trust and Learning Outcomes

This study relates thoughts derived from 4 types of social comparison to trust and individual learning. Our study ( N  = 362 students) showed that upward identification (i.e., believing one is just as good as a better performing teammate) was positively related to trust and individual learning. Upward contrast (i.e., believing one is worse than a better performing group member) was negatively related to learning, as were downward-identifying thoughts (i.e., believing one will perform as badly as a poorly performing teammate). Downward contrast (i.e., thinking one can do much better than the poor performer) was negatively related to trust. We concluded that social comparison-based thoughts are important to consider when designing teamwork because of their constructive and destructive consequences.     

Neuroticism and responses to social comparison among cancer patients

The present study examined how the effects of three audiotapes containing different types of social comparison information on the mood of cancer patients depended on the level of neuroticism. On the procedural tape, a man and woman discussed the process of radiation therapy, on the emotion tape, they focussed on emotional reactions to their illness and treatment, while on the coping tape they focussed on the way they had been coping. A validation study among 115 students showed that the tapes were perceived as they were intended. The main study was conducted among 226 patients who were about to undergo radiation therapy. Compared to patients in the control group, as patients were higher in neuroticism, they reported less negative mood after listening to the procedural and the coping tape. Furthermore, as patients were higher in neuroticism, they reported less negative mood after listening to the coping tape than to the emotion tape. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

CLOSENESS, AUTONOMY, EQUITY, AND RELATIONSHIP SATISFACTION IN LESBIAN COUPLES

It is often assumed that in lesbian relationships a high degree of closeness is reached at the expense of autonomy of the partners. The present study among 119 Dutch lesbian couples examined the effect on relational satisfaction of two dimensions of closeness, emotional dependency and intimacy, and of autonomy and equity. The women in this study were generally open about their lesbian relationship, and reactions of the social environment were mostly positive. Autonomy was negatively related to dependency, but not at all to intimacy. Intimacy and equity as reported by the respondent and her partner, as well as dependency and autonomy reported by the respondent, were independent predictors of relationship satisfaction. Support from the social environment and participation in lesbian subcultures did not play a role in relationship satisfaction.     

Selective Evaluation and Coping With Stress: Making One's Situation Cognitively More Livable

Selective evaluation processes were examined in a study involving 167 individuals receiving payments under the Disablement Insurance Act in the Netherlands. A factor analysis showed 6 strategies of selective evaluation: emphasizing benefits, downward comparison, devaluing former dimensions, imaging "worse worlds," positive framing, and creating new dimensions. Although emphasizing benefits was relatively less common among those under stress, downward comparisons and the imaging of "worse worlds" were clearly more prevalent among individuals experiencing stress. A regression analysis showed that, independent of the degree of stress, selective evaluation techniques (in particular, emphasizing benefits and imagining of "worse worlds") contributed positively to the way respondents evaluated their situation. Moreover, when controlling for the evaluation of one's situation and stress at Time 1, selective evaluation techniques, and especially imagining of "worse worlds," and creating new dimensions, were positively related to the evaluation of one's situation at Time 2 (1 year after Time 1). The results are interpreted as support for the Taylor, Wood, and Lichtman (1983) model of selective evaluation, and for Wills' (1987) downward comparison theory.     

Social interactions,stressful events and negative affect at work: A micro-analytic approach

In the present study a daily event-recording method, the DIRO (Daily Interaction Record in Organizations), was employed for assessing social interactions, stressful events and negative affect at work. Forty-one secretaries filled out the records during the course of a week. This made it possible to consider both between-and within-subject effects of social interactions. The results showed that the social interactions of secretaries were characterized by three dimensions: intimate support, instrumental support and rewarding companionship. These three dimensions appeared to have different relationships with occupational stress. Instrumental support seemed to play the most important role in the work of secretaries, whereas rewarding companionship played no role at all in alleviating occupational stress. In the discussion some explanations are offered for this unexpected result.     

Does marriage protect older people from distress? The role of equity and recency of bereavement

The association between marital status and distress was examined in a largely neglected group, namely older people (65 and older; N = 1,649). In this 2-wave study, married persons were less distressed than single persons, but perceived equity within the marriage and recency of bereavement qualified these findings. Married persons who felt inequitably treated were more distressed than persons who had always been single. Married persons reported less distress than recently (= 2 years ago) widowed persons, but only equitably treated married persons reported less distress than persons widowed for more than 2 years. Increased distress between the 2 waves occurred in recently widowed persons, and there was a decrease in distress in persons who were widowed shortly before the 1st wave. No gender effects were found.     

Differential involvement of hippocampal calcineurin during learning and reversal learning in a Y-maze task

The regulation and function of the calcium-dependent phosphatase calcineurin (CaN, protein phosphatase 2B) in learning and memory remain unclear, although recent work indicates that CaN may play a differential role in training and reversal training. To gain more insight into the involvement of CaN in these two types of learning, hippocampal CaN activity, protein levels, and expression patterns were studied in mice subjected to a reference memory version of the Y-maze task. We show that (1) training but not habituation induces a decrease in cytosolic CaN activity, (2) the recovery of cytosolic CaN activity is reversal training specific and does not reflect normal restoration of basal levels unrelated to subsequent learning, (3) cytosolic protein levels for the catalytic subunit of CaN (CaNA) are decreased at the early phase of training, but not at the early phase of reversal training, (4) CaNA immunoreactivity in the dorsal hippocampus is enhanced in the CA1 and CA3 area (but not in the dentate gyrus [DG] or subiculum [SUB]) only during reversal training. These findings indicate that memory formation is accompanied by reduced CaN activity, whereas adapting to changes in a familiar environment is accompanied by restored CaN activity. Moreover, reversal training selectively affects hippocampal CA3 and CA1 regions, suggesting a specific function of these hippocampal subregions in reversal learning.     

Social Comparison of Health Risks: Locus of Control,the Person-Positivity Bias,and Unrealistic Optimism1

People typically attribute lower health risks to themselves than to others, a phenomenon referred to as unrealistic optimism. The present study tested the person positivity bias as a previously unexamined explanation of the phenomenon and analyzed the relationship between unrealistic optimism and expectations of control. High-school students estimated their own and one of three other persons’(the average student's, a randomly chosen student's, or their best same-sex friend's) chances of getting health problems. They also filled out questionnaires measuring locus of control and health-protective behavior. In contrast with the person positivity explanation, unrealistic optimism was not restricted to the “average other” condition. However, unrealistic optimism was stronger in subjects with a more internal locus of control than in subjects with a rather external locus of control. An unpredicted effect of estimation order was observed: Unrealistic optimism was stronger in subjects who estimated the comparison person's risks first than in subjects who started with own risks. This effect can be understood in terms of Codol's observation that people perceive others as more similar to themselves than they themselves are to others.     

Social comparison and optimism about one's relational future: order effects in social judgment

This research tested the hypothesis that when individuals first answer a question about relative evaluation, i.e. the degree in which they feel they are better or worse off than comparison others and next a question about general evaluation, i.e. the general judgment of one's situation or one's characteristics, the correlations between both variables will be higher than when the order of the questions is reversed. In the first case individuals will use social comparison information as a reference point for making a judgment of their situation, whereas general evaluations not preceded by relative evaluations may be based on a variety of factors. The content of the questions concerned optimism with respect to one's own prospects concerning intimate relationships, i.e. the perceived chances of having a happy intimate relationship in the future, and the perceived chance of not becoming involved in a divorce. The results of two studies—a questionnaire study among students (n=274), and a computer administered survey among single adults (n=275)—confirmed the predictions. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Effect of Target's Physical Attractiveness and Dominance on STD-Risk Perceptions

Utilizing a 2 × 2 design, the present study examined the effect of a female's physical attractiveness and dominance on men's sexual motivation and sexually transmitted disease (STD) risk perceptions in a sample of 72 heterosexual male college students. As predicted. participants were more motivated to have sex with more physically attractive women. Nonetheless, they also believed that the more physically attractive women had been more promiscuous in the past, and believed that unprotected sex with a physically attractive woman implied a relatively somewhat higher risk of contracting an STD. In contrast, the more socially dominant women were perceived as having practiced safer sex more regularly and as having had less risky sexual partners in the past. Practical implications of this study are discussed.