Availability of objective information and social comparison behavior

Three experiments tested basic hypotheses of the social comparison theory regarding the relationship between the availability of objective means for self-evaluation and the occurrence of social comparison. Undergraduate subjects were asked to answer 20 items of a musical aptitude test. When the subjects pushed the “social comparison button, ” they could see other subjects' answers displayed on an electric panel in their cubicles. When the information about the correct answer was unavailable, the subjects pushed the button most frequently to compare their answers with others', especially when the criterion of correct answers was social consensus. Social comparison of this type was regarded as informational social comparison. However, the subjects showed a considerable amount of social comparison even when they received the objective information, if the subjects' self-esteem was enhanced either through the objective information or through high self-esteem manipulation prior of the testing. Social comparison of this type was regarded as normative social comparison.