Self-evaluation and dysphoria: The effects of self and social comparisons

This study examined the effects of dysphoric mood, three types of social comparison information and performance feedback upon subjects' self-evaluative judgments for minimal goals and expected performance. Male and female subjects who were identified as either dysphoric or nondysphoric received performance feedback on an anagram problem solving task which indicated a deceleration in their rate of improvement over eight trials. This feedback, together with unfavorable social comparison information, has been found to result in depressed subjects setting higher goals, when compared to nondepressed subjects, despite indications that improvement in performance was decelerating (Simon, 1978). Also, in the present study, subjects were shown one of three types of social comparison information concerning how other students performed on the anagram task: favorable, unfavorable and a combination of both favorable and unfavorable. Prior to each of eight trials, subjects made ratings for their desired score (minimal goal) and the score they expected to achieve (expected score) after the next set of anagrams. Also, subjects rated their minimal goals and expected performance for themselves and others on a future anagram task. It was predicted that dysphoric subjects would show greater differences between their expected scores and minimal goals, especially when unfavorable social comparison information was available, and that this pattern for self-evaluations would persist into the future. Females reported lower expected scores, and minimal goals which exceeded their expected performances prior to the administration of the social comparison and performance feedback information following trial one. Dysphoric subjects reported higher initial minimal goals. For the dysphoric subjects, the unfavorable social comparison information was associated with the highest minimal goals over trials. Expected scores on later trials were lower for dysphoric subjects who received the favorable social comparison information. Dysphoric subjects predicted that an average other student would have higher goals and expected scores in the future. Contrary to the hypothesis, it was found that ratings for minimal goals and expected scores of dysphoric subjects in the mixed social comparison condition were not similar to the self-evaluations reported by dysphoric and nondysphoric subjects who received only the unfavorable social comparison feedback. Possible reasons for these unpredicted findings and recommendations for future research were discussed.