The Efficiency of Social Comparisons With Routine Standards

People engage in social comparison to obtain self-knowledge, but because of scarce cognitive resources they have to compare efficiently. In our research, we demonstrate that comparisons with routine standards are faster and hence more efficient than comparisons with other standards. Routine standards are people with whom one has compared frequently in the past. In the first study, we focus on naturally occurring routine standards such as one's best friend. In the second study, we show that experimentally established routine standards also facilitate comparisons with the self. Importantly, the facilitation occurred even though no standard selection was necessary. Previous research suggests that routine standards are more efficient because routinely using the same standard circumvents the need to select standards for each comparison anew. However, the current research indicates that the comparison process itself becomes faster if one compares oneself with a routine standard rather than with a new standard.