Article ID Journal Published Year Pages File Type
949027 Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 2009 4 Pages PDF
Abstract

The present work investigates if ease/difficulty experiences associated with social comparison information shape the direction of the comparison. In particular, we test the hypothesis that standards of comparison associated with experiences of ease lead to assimilation whereas standards processed under experiences of difficulty result in comparative contrast. In line with this hypothesis, we found in Experiment 1 that the easy processing of a standard led to assimilation whereas difficult processing of the same standard led to contrast. This finding was replicated in Experiment 2, even though the ease/difficulty experiences were this time introduced independently of the standard. Finally, Experiment 3 tested the boundary conditions of the influence of experiences by showing their flexible use in judgmental processes.

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