Self–other similarity judgment asymmetries reverse for people to whom you want to be similar

On reducing an empathy gap: The impact of self‐construal and order of judgment

“…Given that interdependence conveys the notion of being similar to others and that we found larger self-other similarity concerning judgments in the interdependent/other-first condition, our findings are in line with recent work by White (2008), who reported a reversal of the self-other similarity asymmetry for comparison others to whom participants wished to be similar: Similarity was judged to be greater when the self rather than the other was the target of a comparative judgment. Interestingly, White (2008) also found the classic self-other similarity asymmetry for comparison others to whom participants did not wish to be similar. In line with Van Boven et al (2005), who drew on a presumably independent self-construal (American) sample, we found no differences in the empathy gap for people with an activated independent self-construal, regardless of whether the self was judged first or second.…”

“…In the present experiment, participants elaborated a more complex decision involving their own and others' unwillingness to engage in an embarrassing act. Second, White's (2008) participants stated specific others they wanted and did not want to be similar to, while our participants predicted decisions of 'an unknown other student'. Finally, while activating an independent self-construal likely rendered the other rather meaningless as reference for the judgment at hand, White's (2008) participants were motivated to differ from the other.…”

“…Second, White's (2008) participants stated specific others they wanted and did not want to be similar to, while our participants predicted decisions of 'an unknown other student'. Finally, while activating an independent self-construal likely rendered the other rather meaningless as reference for the judgment at hand, White's (2008) participants were motivated to differ from the other. Future research should address these issues by using similar dependent measures, focusing also on familiar others, and assessing the personal relevance of the other.…”

“…Apart from an independent self‐construal conveying the notion of uniqueness, thus rendering the other less meaningful in a comparison process, several further factors may explain this difference. First, White (2008) asked participants to directly evaluate how similar they were compared to others (or others compared to them). In the present experiment, participants elaborated a more complex decision involving their own and others’ unwillingness to engage in an embarrassing act.…”

Asymmetric Comparison in Choice Processes

“…In self‐other comparisons, the self functions as the habitual standard (Srull & Gaelick, 1983; White, 2008). If the direction of comparison is experimentally assigned, the more elaborated self‐knowledge leads to asymmetries in similarity judgments (Hodges, Bruininks, & Ivy, 2002; Karylowski, 1989; Karylowski & Skarzynska, 1992).…”