Sun Qian, Li Qinglei, Qian Jiamin, Luo Shasha, Liu Yongfang
Department of Psychology, Suzhou University of Science and Technology, Suzhou, Jiangsu, China.
College of Education Science, Hubei Normal University, Huangshi, Hubei, China.
Psych J. 2025 Feb;14(1):103-117. doi: 10.1002/pchj.802. Epub 2024 Sep 28.
Within an object-interdependent context, we conducted three experiments to investigate the influence of social comparisons on cooperative behavior, as well as to assess the mediating and moderating effects of related variables. In Experiment 1 (n = 207), we examined whether social comparisons impact cooperative behavior toward a comparator in a dictator game task. Here, we specifically focused on the mediating effects of evaluation of others' competence, along with three other potential mediators: self-competence evaluation, positive emotions, and negative emotions. Following the insights gained from Experiment 1, we proceeded to Experiments 2 (n = 279) and 3 (n = 298) to further explore whether social distance moderates the mediating effect of evaluation of others' competence. The results of all three experiments consistently indicated that upward (vs. non-) comparison facilitated cooperative behavior, whereas downward (vs. non-) comparison hindered it. Furthermore, our findings revealed that evaluation of others' competence served as a mediator between social comparison and cooperative behavior when the comparator (i.e., the cooperative partner) was perceived as being at a far-distance, whereas the mediating effect of evaluation of others' competence disappeared when social distance was close. These results reveal the pivotal role of evaluating others' competence and social distance in social interactions from the perspective of social comparison, which provides insights into how to promote cooperative behavior.
在一个对象相互依赖的情境中，我们进行了三项实验，以研究社会比较对合作行为的影响，并评估相关变量的中介和调节作用。在实验1（n = 207）中，我们考察了在独裁者博弈任务中社会比较是否会影响对比较对象的合作行为。在这里，我们特别关注对他人能力评价的中介作用，以及其他三个潜在的中介变量：自我能力评价、积极情绪和消极情绪。根据实验1获得的见解，我们接着进行了实验2（n = 279）和实验3（n = 298），以进一步探究社会距离是否会调节对他人能力评价的中介作用。所有三项实验的结果一致表明，向上（而非不）比较促进了合作行为，而向下（而非不）比较则阻碍了合作行为。此外，我们的研究结果显示，当比较对象（即合作伙伴）被视为处于远距离时，对他人能力的评价在社会比较和合作行为之间起到了中介作用，而当社会距离较近时，对他人能力评价的中介作用则消失了。这些结果从社会比较的角度揭示了对他人能力评价和社会距离在社会互动中的关键作用，为如何促进合作行为提供了见解。
