Standing Out From the Crowd: How Comparison to Prototypes Can Decrease Health-Risk Behavior in Young Adults

Abstract

This research tested whether social comparison can encourage adolescents to make less risky health decisions. Two studies demonstrated that when young adults compare themselves with drinkers, they become less willing to drink if they perceive dissimilarity between themselves and those drinkers. When participants in Study 1 compared with someone who drinks regularly, their perceived similarity to prototypical drinkers was positively related to their willingness to drink. In Study 2, participants identified or contrasted themselves with prototypical drinkers; those encouraged to contrast who also felt less similar to the prototype reported less willingness to drink. These studies support the prototype/willingness model's assumption that prototypes affect willingness to drink through social comparison.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Study 1 was part of the first author's dissertation; portions of the data from this study were also presented at the 2006 conference of the Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago, IL.

Notes

¹The comparison was not with a real partner, although participants did not know that (as explained in the Procedure section). It was therefore important that all participants were strangers; if some participants thought they were comparing with a friend, it could affect their responses. For this reason, 12 students who knew each other were not included. The other excluded students (11% of remaining sample) reported doubts that they were working with actual partners. Anecdotally, several of these suspicious participants reported being in or hearing about studies that involved fictional partners. It may be the case that those excluded were people with more experience as research participants, whereas those included were relatively naive about research studies involving deception. Comparisons between excluded and nonexcluded participants revealed no differences in age, past drinking behavior, or pretest similarity to the typical drinker (ps > .32).

Note. N = 116 for willingness; N = 101 for intention. Both willingness and intention are on 7-point scales; prototype similarity is standardized; comparison condition is coded as high comparison = 1, low comparison = −1; willingness/intention is coded as willingness = −1, intention = 1.

*p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001.

Note. N= 55. Willingness is on a 7-point scale; prototype similarity is standardized; comparison condition is coded as contrast = 1, identification = −1.

*p < .05.