Abstract: | In the past ten or so years, numerous experiments have been conducted to illustrate the intervention of social regulations in cognitive functioning (e.g., social coordination, sociocognitive conflict, and social marking). However, in that way, social comparison processes have not received any extended theoretical and empirical attention. Several experimental results are reported here in an attempt to show that the social conditions, in particular personal and categorical comparison situations, in which subjects are led to perform memory and problem-solving tasks constitute a determining factor in their cognitive performances. The discussion presents some new theoretical prospects for the study of social regulations of cognitive functioning. |