Motivational Effects in the Social Comparison of Opinions

Arie W. Kruglanski; Ofra Mayseless

doi:10.1037/0022-3514.53.5.834

Motivational Effects in the Social Comparison of Opinions

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Abstract

Four experiments were executed to test the effects of different epistemic motivations on subjects' tendency to compare with agreeing or disagreeing others. We found that under high (vs. low) fear of invalidity, subjects tend more to compare with disagreeing (vs. agreeing) others. By contrast, under high (vs. low) need for self-confirmation or a high (vs. low) need for cognitive structure, subjects tended more to compare with agreeing others. These results are discussed in reference to social comparison formulations (Festinger, 1954; Goethals & Darley, 1977) and the theory of lay epistemology (Kruglanski & Ajzen, 1983; Kruglanski & Freund, 1983).

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	834-842
Number of pages	9
Journal	Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
Volume	53
Issue number	5
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.53.5.834
State	Published - Nov 1987
Externally published	Yes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Social Psychology
Sociology and Political Science

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10.1037/0022-3514.53.5.834

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AB - Four experiments were executed to test the effects of different epistemic motivations on subjects' tendency to compare with agreeing or disagreeing others. We found that under high (vs. low) fear of invalidity, subjects tend more to compare with disagreeing (vs. agreeing) others. By contrast, under high (vs. low) need for self-confirmation or a high (vs. low) need for cognitive structure, subjects tended more to compare with agreeing others. These results are discussed in reference to social comparison formulations (Festinger, 1954; Goethals & Darley, 1977) and the theory of lay epistemology (Kruglanski & Ajzen, 1983; Kruglanski & Freund, 1983).

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Motivational Effects in the Social Comparison of Opinions

Abstract

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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