Wood J V, Giordano-Beech M, Taylor K L, Michela J L, Gaus V
Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.
J Pers Soc Psychol. 1994 Oct;67(4):713-31. doi: 10.1037//0022-3514.67.4.713.
People with low self-esteem (LSE) seem to focus on self-protection; rather than trying to achieve gains for their self-esteem, they try to avoid losses. This research examined, in a social comparison context, the hypothesis that LSEs seek self-enhancement when they have an opportunity that is "safe," that is, carrying little risk of humiliation. Experiments 1 and 2 indicated that LSEs sought the most social comparisons after receiving success feedback, whereas high-self-esteem Ss (HSEs) sought the most comparisons after failure. Further results suggested that LSEs who succeeded were seizing a safe means of self-enhancement and that HSEs who failed were seeking to compensate for the failure. Also supporting this interpretation for LSEs was Experiment 3, in which LSEs who succeeded sought the most comparisons when such comparisons promised to be favorable. All three studies illustrate the value of a new measure of social comparison selection.
自尊心较低的人似乎更注重自我保护；他们不是试图提升自尊，而是努力避免自尊受损。本研究在社会比较的背景下检验了这样一个假设：自尊心较低的人在有“安全”机会时，即几乎没有丢脸风险的情况下，会寻求自我提升。实验1和实验2表明，自尊心较低的人在收到成功反馈后进行的社会比较最多，而高自尊的人在失败后进行的社会比较最多。进一步的结果表明，成功的自尊心较低的人在抓住一种安全的自我提升方式，而失败的高自尊的人则试图弥补失败。实验3也支持了对自尊心较低的人的这种解释，在实验3中，成功的自尊心较低的人在社会比较有望带来有利结果时进行的比较最多。所有这三项研究都说明了一种新的社会比较选择测量方法的价值。
