Taking Social Comparison to the Extremes: The Huge-Fish-Tiny-Pond Effect in Self-Evaluations

Abstract

People evaluate themselves more favorably when they are a big fish in a little pond than a little fish in a big pond. The present research demonstrates that this tendency is exacerbated in extreme social comparison conditions, explains why, and highlights practical implications. Study 1 participants were told that they were a big (little) fish in a little (big) pond or a huge (tiny) fish in a tiny (huge) pond. Results provided evidence for a huge-fish-tiny-pond effect and showed that it is significantly larger than the big-fish-little-pond effect. Study 2 demonstrated that the huge-fish-tiny-pond effect reflects a neglect group rank information and Study 3 suggests that it inflates self-views. These experiments are the first to document the huge-fish-tiny-pond effect, which was highly robust (overall d = 2.05) and suggest that extreme social comparisons magnify self-evaluation tendencies.