Dysphoria and Social Comparison: Combining Information Regarding Others' Performances

This study examined the evaluations that people make about themselves when they are able to compare themselves to multiple versus single other individuals. Dysphoric and nondysphoric students performed a “spatial abilities” task. Prior to this task, they were given information about the performance of one or two other individuals. Dysphoric and nondysphoric subjects' self-evaluations did not differ when there was information about only one other subject. However, when one other person had performed better and one worse than the subject, dysphoric subjects made more negative self-evaluations than did nondysphoric subjects. The results suggest that dysphoric individuals, relative to nondysphoric individuals, tend to weigh upward social comparison information more than downward when combining information about others. This is contrasted to prior work on the exposure of self to information about others. Results are discussed in terms of cognitive theories of depression.