The Influence of Social Comparison on Prosocial Behavior: The Regulatory Mechanism of the Social Comparison Effect

社会比较(social comparison)是指人们对一个或多个他人与自己相关联信息进行比较思考的过程。本研究通过两个实验考察社会比较对亲社会行为的影响以及社会比较效应的作用。实验1采用智力测验排名法，探讨社会比较对亲社会行为的影响，结果发现社会比较差异显著，上行比较的亲社会行为显著高于下行比较。实验2采用学习能力情境启动法，考察社会比较效应在社会比较影响亲社会行为中的调节作用，结果发现社会比较主效应显著，社会比较效应和社会比较交互效应显著，与对比效应相比，同化效应下，亲社会行为显著增加。Social comparison refers to the process in which people compare and think about the information related to themselves and one or more others. This study examines the influence of social comparison on prosocial behavior and the role of the social comparison effect through two experiments. Experiment 1 uses the ranking method of an intelligence test to explore the influence of social comparison on prosocial behavior. The results show that there are significant differences in social comparison, and the prosocial behavior upward social comparison is significantly higher than that in downward social comparison. Experiment 2 uses the situational priming method of learning ability to investigate the regulatory role of the social comparison effect in the influence of social comparison on prosocial behavior. The results show that the main effect of social comparison is significant, and both the social comparison effect and the interaction effect of social comparison are significant. Compared with the contrast effect, under the assimilation effect, prosocial behavior increases significantly.