TITLE:
Social Comparison Orientation and Perspective Taking as Related to Responses to a Victim
AUTHORS:
Abraham P. Buunk, Pieternel Dijkstra
KEYWORDS:
Empathy, Distress, Helping, Social Comparison Orientation
JOURNAL NAME:
Psychology,
Vol.5 No.5,
April
23,
2014
ABSTRACT: The
present study examined the effect of social comparison orientation (SCO) on the
responses to a victim. Participants (n = 87) were exposed to an
interview with the alleged victim of a traffic accident, that was either an unfamiliar or a close other. A close
other induced more feelings of oneness and more personal distress, but not more
empathy, than an unfamiliar other. Higher levels of SCO resulted in more
feelings of oneness and more helping behavior only in response to an unfamiliar
other. The results suggest that those high in SCO tend to perceive more
identification with others they do not know than those low in SCO.