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Gepubliceerd in:

27-05-2023

Dimensional and social comparisons in a health fitness context

Auteurs: Jason P. Rose, Keith A. Edmonds, Chloe N. Beeler

Gepubliceerd in: Journal of Behavioral Medicine | Uitgave 1/2024

Abstract

Whereas prior research has found that people are influenced by both internal (e.g., dimensional) and external (e.g., social) comparative information in academic contexts, we experimentally examined the influence of such comparisons in a health fitness context. Participants engaged in “physical and mental fitness” tasks (e.g., performing sit-ups, memorizing words) and were randomly assigned to receive (1) social comparative feedback indicating their physical or mental fitness was better or worse than their peers or (2) dimensional comparative feedback indicating their performance in a target domain (e.g., mental fitness) was better or worse than a referent domain (e.g., physical fitness). Results showed that participants who made upward comparisons had lower fitness self-evaluations and more negative (less positive) emotional reactions to the feedback for the target domain, with the effect being nominally stronger for social than dimensional comparisons and for mental than physical fitness. Findings are discussed in the context of comparison-based models and health behavior theories.

vorige artikel Injunctive social norms and perceived message tailoring are associated with health information seeking

volgende artikel Self-guided digital acceptance and commitment therapy for fibromyalgia management: results of a randomized, active-controlled, phase II pilot clinical trial

Data were first collected using the mental fitness target domain. We then replicated our procedures using a new sample where we switched the target domain to physical fitness. Given that the procedures and measures were identical for these two data sets, and to ease exposition, we combined these data together for the present manuscript.

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Titel: Dimensional and social comparisons in a health fitness context
Auteurs: Jason P. Rose
Keith A. Edmonds
Chloe N. Beeler
Publicatiedatum: 27-05-2023
Uitgeverij: Springer US
Gepubliceerd in: Journal of Behavioral Medicine / Uitgave 1/2024
Print ISSN: 0160-7715
Elektronisch ISSN: 1573-3521
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10865-023-00414-w

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