Social comparison and affiliation under threat

Going beyond the affiliate-choice paradigm

Bibliographic Data

ID6203760
AuthorsJames A Kulik (University of California San Diego, corresponding author), Heike I M Mahler, Angela Earnest
Year1994
Volume66
Issue2
Pages301-309
Publication date1994-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Personality and Social Psychology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0022-3514 • E-ISSN: 1939-1315
PublisherAmerican Psychological Association (APA) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1037//0022-3514.66.2.301
PMID8195987
OpenAlexW1994974757
LanguageEN
Citations received11

This study examined the emotional similarity hypothesis--a derivation from social comparison theory, which predicts that increasing fear should lead to greater affiliation with someone who is awaiting the same threat (and who therefore is of relatively similar emotional status) relative to someone who has already experienced the threat (and who therefore is of relatively dissimilar emotional status). The results failed to support the emotional similarity hypothesis and in so doing challenged the importance of emotional comparison as a determinant of verbal affiliation under threat. Cognitive clarity concerns instead seemed to account better for the observed effects on verbal affiliation. Supplementary analyses of nonverbal affiliation (facial glances) likewise ran counter to an emotional similarity prediction. Effects of affiliation on anxiety were also examined. Previous conclusions regarding the pattern and causes of affiliation under threat that have relied on the affiliate-choice paradigm are considered.

Anxiety · CLARITY · Cognition · Developmental psychology · Nonverbal communication · Similarity (geometry · Social approval · Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes · Nonprofit Sector and Volunteering · Psychology · Psychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment · Social Psychology · Suicide and Self-Harm Studies

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