Ninety-four college students recorded details of their social comparisons over 2 weeks using a new instrument, the Rochester Social Comparison Record. Major results were (a) comparison direction varied with relationship with the target; (b) precomparison negative mood led more often to upward comparison than to downward comparison, supporting a selective affect-cognition priming model in which dysphoria primes negative thoughts about the self (Bower, 1991;Forgas, Bower, & Moylan, 1990) rather than a motivational self-enhancement model (Wills, 1981(Wills, ,1991; (c) upward comparison decreased subjective well-being, whereas downward comparison increased it; and (d) high self-esteem individuals engaged in more self-enhancing comparison.Portions of the article were presented at the meeting of the American Psychological Society, Dallas, Texas, June 1990. Preparation of this article was supported by the University of Rochester.We are very grateful to Miron Zuckerman for his support and suggestions throughout this project and to Rachel Lewis, Carol Cutalo, and Sharon Lazarow for their assistance in data collection.
Hypothesis testers tend to ask hypothesis-consistent questions (i.e., they ask about features more likely under the hypothesis than under the alternative). Targets tend to acquiesce (i.e., they provide more yes than no answers). Because yes answers to hypothesis-consistent questions confirm the hypothesis being tested, hypothesis testers should generate hypothesis-confirming data. In the present study, naive hypothesis testers questioned naive targets about their personality traits and, on the basis of targets' answers, drew conclusions about these traits. As predicted, hypothesis testers tended to ask hypothesis-consistent questions, targets tended to acquiesce, and the data generated were consistent with the hypothesis being tested. On the basis of these data, hypothesis testers drew inferences in line with the hypothesis they were testing. Because hypothesis testers derived their conclusions from hypothesis-confirming data, more diagnostic data resulted in a greater confirmation bias.Trait hypothesis testing involves the gathering and interpretation of information about another person's character. The hypothesis tester asks the target person a number of questions, receives the target's answers, and uses the acquired information to draw conclusions about the target's personality. The study reported here examined how the type of questions asked and the type of answers received together lead the hypothesis tester to draw biased conclusions.Past research has shown that, in choosing questions, people use a positive test strategy (Klayman & Ha, 1987); that is, they ask the target about features more likely under the hypothesis than under the alternative (
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