The Effects of Social Comparison on College Students’ Sense of Fairness: The Moderating Role of Subjective Social Status

  • XU Xiaohui ,
  • ZHANG Yaohua ,
  • XU Min ,
  • ZHANG Minghao
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  • School of Educational Science, Institute for Education and Treatment of Problematic Youth, Ludong University, Yantai 264011

Received date: 2020-12-21

  Online published: 2022-03-20

Abstract

The current study examined the effects of social comparison on college students’ sense of fairness, and explored the moderating role of subjective social status. We recruited 265 college students and used an experimental design which contains social comparison, the degree of unfairness and whether there is a cost for oneself to achieve the equal split. We also examined participants’ subjective social status by using the MacArthur Scale of Subjective SES. The results showed that social comparison had an effect on college students’ sense of fairness. Compared to downward social comparison, college students were more inclined to choose the equal split in upward social comparison; subjective social status could moderate the effect of social comparison on college students’ sense of fairness, participants in the lower subjective social status tend to choose the equal split in downward social comparison. College students’ sense of fairness are quite high, and they mainly focus on how to maximize their interest in resource distribution.

Cite this article

XU Xiaohui , ZHANG Yaohua , XU Min , ZHANG Minghao . The Effects of Social Comparison on College Students’ Sense of Fairness: The Moderating Role of Subjective Social Status[J]. Studies of Psychology and Behavior, 2022 , 20(2) : 274 -281 . DOI: 10.12139/j.1672-0628.2022.02.019

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