Gilbert D T, Giesler R B, Morris K A
Department of Psychology, University of Texas at Austin 78712, USA.
J Pers Soc Psychol. 1995 Aug;69(2):227-36. doi: 10.1037//0022-3514.69.2.227.
People acquire information about their abilities by comparison, and research suggests that people restrict such comparisons to those whom they consider sources of diagnostic information. We suggest that diagnosticity is often considered only after comparisons are made and that people do not fail to make nondiagnostic comparisons so much as they mentally undo them. In 2 studies, participants made nondiagnostic comparisons even when they knew they should not, and quickly unmade them when they were able. These results suggest that social comparisons may be relatively spontaneous, effortless, and unintentional reactions to the performances of others and that they may occur even when people consider such reactions logically inappropriate.
人们通过比较来获取有关自身能力的信息，研究表明，人们会将这种比较限制在他们认为是诊断性信息来源的那些人身上。我们认为，人们往往是在进行比较之后才考虑诊断性，而且人们并非不进行非诊断性比较，而是在心里否定这些比较。在两项研究中，参与者即使知道不应该进行非诊断性比较，还是会进行，并且一旦有能力就会迅速否定这些比较。这些结果表明，社会比较可能是对他人表现相对自发、轻松且无意的反应，即使人们从逻辑上认为这种反应不合适，它也可能会发生。
