Ma Huanke, Zhang Boyi, Liu Mengjia, Wu Xin
Department of Psychology, Xinxiang Medical University, Henan, 453003, People's Republic of China.
Center for Cognition, Emotion, and Body (CCEB), Xinxiang Medical University, Xinxiang, Henan, 453003, People's Republic of China.
Psychol Res Behav Manag. 2024 Oct 30;17:3749-3760. doi: 10.2147/PRBM.S456265. eCollection 2024.
Although social status is closely related to income distribution, few studies have focused on social comparisons caused by income distribution based on social status.
The neural indices of status-related social comparisons were investigated by modifying the classical social comparison task with the incorporation of event-related potentials (ERPs).
The study employed a total of 29 subjects (15 females), the status scores of whom were initially obtained through the utilization of classical measurements of objective (7 items) and subjective (2 items) socioeconomic status. Subsequently, the subjects were required to complete a dot-estimation task. To induce status-related and response-related (upward, equal, and downward) social comparisons, subjects were informed that rewards were distributed based on whether their status score or their response was superior to that of a selected competitor.
The behavioral results demonstrated that status-related social comparisons were perceived as more unfair than response-related social comparisons. The ERP results indicated that the cue-P3 amplitude was lower under status-related cues than response-related cues. Additionally, the amplitude of feedback-related negativity was larger under status-related equal comparisons than response-related equal comparisons. Furthermore, the P3 amplitude was larger under status-related upward comparisons relative to response-related upward comparisons.
The findings indicated that status-related comparisons may contribute to the development of unfair consideration (enhanced FRN) and a reduction in task motivations (lowered cue-P3). Additionally, the status-related upward comparison may serve as a significant factor in the onset of relative deprivation (enhanced P3). It would therefore be beneficial to gain further insight into the neural basis of social comparisons.
尽管社会地位与收入分配密切相关，但很少有研究关注基于社会地位的收入分配所引发的社会比较。
通过将事件相关电位（ERP）纳入经典社会比较任务来研究与地位相关的社会比较的神经指标。
该研究共招募了29名受试者（15名女性），其地位得分最初通过使用客观（7项）和主观（2项）社会经济地位的经典测量方法获得。随后，受试者被要求完成一项点估计任务。为了引发与地位相关和与反应相关（向上、相等和向下）的社会比较，受试者被告知奖励是根据他们的地位得分或反应是否优于选定的竞争对手来分配的。
行为结果表明，与地位相关的社会比较比与反应相关的社会比较被认为更不公平。ERP结果表明，与反应相关的线索相比，与地位相关的线索下提示P3波幅更低。此外，与反应相关的相等比较相比，与地位相关的相等比较下反馈相关负波的波幅更大。此外，与反应相关的向上比较相比，与地位相关的向上比较下P3波幅更大。
研究结果表明，与地位相关的比较可能导致不公平考量的发展（增强的FRN）和任务动机的降低（降低的提示P3）。此外，与地位相关的向上比较可能是相对剥夺发生的一个重要因素（增强的P3）。因此，进一步深入了解社会比较的神经基础将是有益的。
