Social Comparison‐Based Thoughts in Groups: Their Associations With Interpersonal Trust and Learning Outcomes

Abstract

This study relates thoughts derived from 4 types of social comparison to trust and individual learning. Our study (N = 362 students) showed that upward identification (i.e., believing one is just as good as a better performing teammate) was positively related to trust and individual learning. Upward contrast (i.e., believing one is worse than a better performing group member) was negatively related to learning, as were downward‐identifying thoughts (i.e., believing one will perform as badly as a poorly performing teammate). Downward contrast (i.e., thinking one can do much better than the poor performer) was negatively related to trust. We concluded that social comparison‐based thoughts are important to consider when designing teamwork because of their constructive and destructive consequences.