Comparison: Information or Verdict

A colleague’s post shows a finished project. The thought looks at the gap between that post and its own work, and it reads the gap. It can read it as a verdict on the person, or as information about what is possible. KTT counts both readings as thoughts, conscious or not, even if one arrives as a small drop in mood. Research calls the habit social comparison. The studies read for this article did not test whether a thought comes first.

The look upward

The thought looks up before it looks down. A 2018 meta-analysis covering more than 60 years of research found that people tend to choose upward comparison targets, people doing better, even when that threatens their self-esteem.

The verdict

Once the thought has found someone ahead, it says: so this is behind. The same meta-analysis found that the most common response to comparison is contrast. Self-evaluation drops after an upward comparison and rises after a downward one. A 2023 meta-analysis of social media found the same pattern, and linked exposure to upward targets to lower body image, well-being, mental health and self-esteem. The 2018 meta-analysis, across all settings, had found no overall effect on mood and self-esteem. The two reviews study different settings, and they disagree on that point.

The information

Sometimes the thought reads the same gap differently. It says: so this is what is possible. Under some conditions, such as feeling similar to the other person, self-evaluation rises after an upward comparison. In three studies from 2005, Asian Canadians sought more upward comparisons than European Canadians, especially after failure and when a chance to improve was clear. The authors read this as comparison used for self-improvement. The participants were students in Canada, with small samples in one study. Another review calls the evidence on culture and comparison mixed.

What is left open

Whether the thought comes before the drop in mood or after it is not known. The studies read here measured how self-evaluation changed, not which thought came first.

Whether upward comparison harms mood in general is also open, given the two reviews.

How the thought behaves in Asia itself is not shown by these studies.

What each reading ends with

• The verdict ends in a sentence about the person.
• The information ends in a sentence about a step.
• Both begin with the same noticed gap.