The social basis of emotion: affective consequences of social comparisons with competitive and cooperative others

The present research explores the affective consequences of social comparisons made by cooperators and competitors. Participants (75 males, 90 females) were randomly assigned to either a cooperative or competitive condition in which they either performed better or worse than a partner. Participants were asked to imagine themselves in a particular situation and then report their emotional reaction to the scenario. Consistent with R. Lazarus' cognitive appraisal theory of emotion, participants in the cooperative condition reported anger when their partner's actions hindered goal attainment but reported joy when the partner promoted goal attainment. Consistent with T. Wills' theory of downward social comparison, participants reported joy when they performed better than a competitor. In accordance with some aspects of L. Festinger's theory of upward social comparison, participants reported anger when they performed worse than a competitor. Implications for reward distribution practices in organizational settings are discussed. Cooperation and Competition 3 The Social Basis of Emotion: Affective Consequences of Social Comparisons with Competitive and Cooperative Others On a daily basis humans experience an array of emotions. As we go about our regular routine of interacting with other individuals, our emotions are to a great extent determined by our encounters with these other persons. To the extent that our encounters with others are positive, we are likely to experience positive emotions such as happiness, pride, or joy. If, however, our interpersonal experiences are unpleasant, we are likely to experience negative emotions such as anger, distress, or despair. Additionally, the type of relationship we have with the person with whom we interact is likely to affect the emotions we experience. For example, if a co-worker gets a raise, are we happy or envious? It depends. If the co-worker is someone with whom we have enjoyed a cooperative relationship, we will probably be happy. If, however, the co-worker is someone with whom we are competing for a promotion, we may be most unhappy, envious, or even indignant. The purpose of the present research is to explore the social foundations of human emotional experience. Specifically, we wish to investigate the manner in which social comparisons of different types elicit affective reactions of different types. Moreover, we seek to illuminate whether these affective reactions differ as a function of one's relationship with the target of comparison. Cooperative human relations, we will argue, Cooperation and Competition 4 engender different emotional responses than competitive ones. In order to consider the various processes that may influence the emotions elicited by cooperation and competition, this paper will review the literatures associated with emotion, social comparison processes, and cooperation and competition. Human Emotion: An Overview Although emotion is a widely researched subject, the current experts cannot agree on an answer to even the most elementary of questions such as "Are there basic emotions? " (Ekman & Davidson, 1994). Most researchers have chosen to study emotion from either a biological or a cognitive perspective. Researchers studying the cognitive component of emotion usually assume a social element is involved in the elicitation of emotion, but their goal is not to study the social basis of emotion. Their goal is to study the cognitive basis of emotion, and the social aspect of emotion is somewhat incidental. The cognitive appraisal theory of emotion states that it is our evaluation of our situation which causes us to experience emotion. From this perspective, emotions may be defined as, "valenced reactions to events, agents, or objects, with their particular nature being determined by the way in which the eliciting situation is construed" (Ortony, Clore, & Collins, 1988 p. 121). Research of the cognitive appraisal component of emotion stands as a testament to the importance of the social element of the Cooperation and Competition 5 emotion process. Richard Lazarus (1994) acknowledged that although emotions may be elicited by the physical world, there is almost always a social aspect to emotion. Specifically, he posited that most emotions involve "two people who are experiencing either a transient or stable interpersonal relationship of significance" (Lazarus, 1994 p. 209). First, Lazarus proposed that in order for the situation to be emotionally provocative, what happens must be relevant to at least one of the individuals involved. The relationship must involve either harm or benefit. "Harm" in this instance refers to a threat to goal attainment, and "benefit" refers to the promotion of goal attainment. If the relationship involves harm there is a basis for a negative emotion, and if the relationship involves benefit there is a basis for positive emotion. The crux of Lazarus' cognitive appraisal theory of emotion is that the environment and personal goals are weighed against one another and the result is an emotion. The resulting emotion has what Lazarus called a "relational meaning. " Lazarus defined several emotions by their core relational meanings. For example, he defines "relief" as "a distressing goalincongruent condition that has changed for the better or gone away" (Lazarus, 1994 p. 164). As an example of the usefulness of the cognitive appraisal theory of emotion, consider the following scenario: Paula receives her final course grade, and it is a "C. " Getting a "C" is not congruent with Paula's goal of making the Dean's list. When the professor announces that Cooperation and Competition 6 Paula's grade resulted from an error in calculation, and she actually earned an "A-," Paula experiences relief. In this example the environmental circumstances (finding out she received a "C") were originally such that Paula was not going to be able to attain her goal (making the Dean's list). When the environmental circumstances changed such that goal attainment was possible, Paula experienced a positive emotion, "relief. " The Social Bases of Human Emotion Although there are multiple definitions for most human emotions, only a few definitions suggest a social basis. For example, from a social perspective, anger and the emotions considered to be subcategories of anger may be defined as negative emotions which result when an individual disapproves of someone else's blameworthy action and is unhappy about the resulting undesirable event (Ortony et al., 1988). However, most definitions of anger do not contain a social component to them. For example, anger. is frequently defined as "defensive aggressive behavior with autonomic upset" (Frijda, -1994, p. 202). Empathy (or similar emotions such as pity, sympathy, or compassion) occurs when an individual is unhappy about an event which is undesirable for someone else (Ortony et al, 1988). An individual is likely to experience joy (or similar emotions such as delight, happiness, or elation) when he or she is pleased about the outcome of an event. Conversely, when an individual is displeased with the outcome of an event, he or she is likely to Cooperation and Competition 7 experience distress (or similar emotions such as depression, regret, or sadness). Despair or hopelessness are emotions that result from the belief that the outcome of a negative event is not likely to change or that one is unable to cope with the negative outcome (Ortony et al., 1988). Although jealousy and envy are often considered interchangeable, they actually represent appraisals of two different situations. Jealousy results from the fear that something one possesses, whether it is a relationship or a physical possession, is threatened by another person (Salovey, 1991). Envy, however, "is the term reserved for the begrudging of another's possession of an attribute or relationship that one would like to have for oneself" (Salovey, 1991 p. 263). Finally, pride may be defined as the emotion that results when one takes credit for a valued achievement or possession, either one's own or that of another with whom one has a relationship (Lazarus, 1994). Most of the above definitions suggest that an interpersonal element is necessary for the emotion to be experienced. One interpersonal process that may influence the emotion experienced is the social comparison process. Social Comparison Phenomena: An Overview In 1954 Festinger proposed that humans evaluate their opinions and abilities by comparing them with the abilities and opinions of others; he called this idea social comparison theory. Social comparison theory states that humans have a drive to evaluate their opinions and abilities, and when objective criteria is Cooperation and Competition 8 unavailable, one will use the opinions and abilities of others as the standard by which to judge one's own. The social comparison process is mediated by the relevance of the dimension to the individual; if the dimension is unimportant to the individual there will be no drive to evaluate that dimension. Festinger asserted that individuals compare themselves with others who are similar in opinion or ability on relevant dimensions. For example, a novice tennis player does not compare his or her game to that of a professional player. A comparison of this kind could not provide a meaningful or accurate evaluation of the novice's ability. Instead, the beginning player compares his or her game to that of other beginners. By comparing oneself with similar others, one is able to obtain the most accurate evaluation possible in the absence of an objective criterion. Furthermore, Festinger suggested that the need to compare oneself with similar others promotes group uniformity by encouraging behaviors that will reduce the disparity between the performances of the group members. For example, the novice tennis player may try to help other players improve their game, or he or she could attempt to sabotage the other players' ga