Local dominance effects on self-evaluations and intrinsic motivation
Previous research indicates that local comparisons with one or a few people in the immediate environment have a stronger influence on self-evaluations than general comparisons with larger samples. Two studies examined whether this local dominance effect extends to intrinsic motivation.
Study 1 suggests that local comparisons have a stronger effect on both self-evaluations and task enjoyment than general comparisons. Study 2 suggests that local comparisons have a stronger effect on intrinsic motivation than general comparisons and that local comparisons have a significant
indirect effect on persistence via intrinsic motivation. Altogether, the present findings are among the first to demonstrate the contribution of local social comparisons to intrinsic motivation. We highlight the implications of these findings for social comparison theories.
Keywords: Social comparison; big-fish-little-pond effect; intrinsic motivation; local dominance effect; self-evaluation
Document Type: Research Article
Affiliations: 1: Department of Psychology, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, NC, USA 2: Department of Psychology, Ohio University, Athens, OH, USA
Publication date: 03 September 2017
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