The Effects of Social Comparison and Psychological Distance on Emotion

• Main Authors: Hsu, Mung-Ching, 徐名敬
• Other Authors: Yen, Chih-Long
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2013
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/24261200067647457153

碩士 === 國防大學政治作戰學院 === 心理碩士班 === 101 === Based on the propositions of social comparison theory and construal level theory, this research examines the effects of social comparison and psychological distance on emotions. Past studies showed that upward comparison leads to negative emotion, while downward comparison causes positive emotion. Therefore, the first purpose of the study is to replicate the effects of social comparison on emotions. The second purpose of this research is to examine whether the psychological distance moderates the effects of social comparison on emotions. Since a distal psychological distance (PD) makes individual thinking in a higher construct level, this may in turn make emotions overgeneralized. Therefore, the author hypothesized that PD may moderates the effects of social comparison on emotions. Two experiments were conducted. In Study 1 (N=144), no any significant effect was found. In Study 2 (N=150), results suggest that the expected moderating effect was supported. In sum, the hypotheses of current research were partially supported. Keyword：construct level、temporal distance、positive and negative affect