Most people can easily recall an instance when they were asked to compare themselves to someone else, and they can recall how that comparison changed their motivations, goals, attitudes, self-views, and behaviors. Despite this common experience, however, comparisons that are made at the suggestion of another person have largely been neglected by social psychology. For instance, the original conceptualization of social comparison theory was concerned with the kind of comparison information that individuals would seek out, and subsequent research has focused on how people respond to the comparison information they happen to encounter. In most cases, the tacit assumption of this research has been that comparisons arise from within the individual, as a result of that individual's motivations and that responses to that comparison information are derived from the characteristics of that individual. In contrast to the existing literature, the present research introduces a new concept: Directed comparisons. Directed comparisons are defined as deliberate and purposeful comparisons that people make because a third person ("the source") directs them to compare themselves with another person. An example would be when a parent asks a boy to compare his school work with his sister's. Though we know a great deal about how people respond to comparison information they seek or happen to encounter, the present project suggests that the addition of comparison source makes directed comparisons unique in their psychological significance; sources have reasons for eliciting directed comparisons, and these reasons (or perceived reasons) can influence how people respond.
The goals of the current project are to describe the prevalence of directed social comparisons, examine the sources and sources' intentions, and demonstrate the consequences of different source intentions on emotional and behavioral responses, with a focus on the applicability of social comparisons as a motivational tool. To achieve these purposes, three sets of studies will be conducted. Set 1 uses diary and naturalistic methods to examine the prevalence of the directed comparisons and to document the various kinds of intentions associated with directed comparisons. Set 2 uses experimental methods to examine how source and perceiver characteristics influence the inference of source intentions. Set 3 also uses experimental methods to examine how perceived source intentions influence emotional and behavioral responses. Social comparisons influence both people's emotions ("I feel happy and inspired when I'm with my co-workers.") and people's chronic self-views ("I'm not as smart as my sister."). Thus, understanding directed social comparisons should help us better understand these two important components of human social behavior. This is important because social comparison processes are known to be related to important outcomes, such as how people cope with chronic illness.
