Abstract

The present study investigated effects of sucess/failure feedback, consistency of sucess/failure feedback, relevance of comparison attribute, and perceived controllability of performance on choice of comparison target. In experiment 1, a 3(sucess/failure feedback: success, moderate, failure) x 2(consistency of sucess/ failure feedback: consistent, inconsistent) x 2(relevance of comparison attribute: relevant, irrelevant) completely randomized factorial design was used. One hundred and eighty college students were randomly assigned to one of the 12 experimental conditions. In Experiment 2, restricted within relevant condition in experiment 1, a 2(sucess/failure feedback: success, failure) x 2(consistency of sucess/failure feedback: consistent, inconsistent) x 2(perceived controllability: low, high) completely randomized factorial design was used. One hundred and twenty college students were randomly assigned to one of the 8 experimental conditions. Main findings were as follows: First, the effects of sucess/failure feedback was significant in experiment 1 and experiment 2. Success feedback led subjects to choose upward comparison target and failure feedback led them to choose downward comparison target. Second, the effects of consistency of sucess/failure feedback was significant only in experiment 2. Inconsistent feedback led subjects to choose lateral comparison target in experiment 2. This trend was found in experiment 1, which was not statistically significant. Finally, consistency of feedback and perceived controllability made the effects of feedback of social comparison more stronger. Consistent success feedback led subjects to choose upward comparison target more than inconsistent success feedback did. And consistent failure feedback led subjects to choose downward comparison target more than inconsistent failure feedback did. In success condition, subjects who perceived high controllability chose upward comparison target more than those who perceived low controllability did. And in failure condition, subjects who perceived low controllability chose downward comparison target more than those who perceived high controllability did. In the stream of social comparison theories, the limitations of this study and suggestions for future study were discussed.