Feeling good after praise for a successful performance: The importance of social comparison information

Abstract

This study examined the role of social comparisons in producing the satisfaction that often follows from praise. Participants received no praise, comparison-free praise (without explicit social comparison information), and social comparison praise (with explicit social comparison information) after successfully completing a challenging intellectual task. In addition, they either received or did not receive performance norms indicating superior relative performance. Praise only led to greater feelings of satisfaction compared to the no praise, norm absent condition when it was also joined with social comparison information, either provided directly through social comparison praise or through performance norms. The presence of performance norms also enhanced satisfaction. Overall, participants' perceptions of superior relative performance mediated the effects of social comparison praise and of norm information on feelings of satisfaction.

Notes

1. There were no differences in how participants perceived each of the three experimenters. Also, adding experimenter as a variable in the analyses did not alter the findings. Thus all analyses were collapsed across the experimenters.

2. The analysis of performance satisfaction was also performed while controlling for participants' pre-task level of positive and negative affect, as measured by the PANAS. Doing so did not alter the results.