實體生活與虛擬世界中的社交比較自卑感

Abstract

人類的許多能力需要透過比較來評估，藉此知道自己位於群體中的位置。在某些不容易察覺到的領域或自身的技能，我們常常被自我所困擾認為自己低於平均，但當涉及與自我相關非常重要的領域時，人們非常自信且傾向於認為自己高於平均，社交生活大概就是屬於與自我相關的領域，令人意外的是，在評估自己的社交活躍度時，人們不會對於社交環境進行代表性的調查，相反，因為認知可及性的影響，他們將自己與心理上最容易接近的基準進行比較，但該基準容易產生偏差，那些社交活躍程度高的人更容易被想到，成為比較的基準，故產生社交自卑感。本研究發現自卑感確實存在於社交生活中，然而非社交生活則不會產生自卑感，反而會產生優於他人的傾向。而進一步檢驗社交生活的不同情境，發現不論是在虛擬情境或實體情境，皆會產生社交自卑感。此外，本研究發現進行正向特質的社會比較時，我們會認為自己比別人好；反而進行負向特質的社會比較時則沒有觀察到個人與他人的差異。另外本研究發現較低社會期許的社交活躍程度受自我期待程度影響，對於社交活躍度的自我期待度越高，傾向認為自己在社交越活躍，則社交自卑感越低。社交自卑感與心理健康亦有關聯性，高社交自卑感者生活滿意度越低、寂寞感越高。Researchers of social comparison have suggested that we tend to believe that we are better than others. This “better-than-average effect” has been demonstrated in numerous studies, with diverse cultures and populations, on different dimensions, and with various measurements techniques. Following with this rational, we should believe our social lives are richer than others’. However, the study of Deri, Davidai and Gilovich (2017) showed the opposite findings, their results showed that people have a surprisingly grim outlook on their social lives. In the present study, we replicated above findings, and further examined whether this phenomenon could show in the online situation. Volunteers were recruited through posted sing-in sheets, letters, and by word of mouth. The surveys were designed to examine the evaluation of self and others on psychological characters and social lives in different context. The results of the present study replicated the main findings of the study of Deri, Davidai and Gilovich, we do believe that others had richer social lives than ourselves. This phenomenon was observed on both daily life and online situations. The results of the present study also suggested that the phenomenon was correlated with sell-being and loneliness. In addition, social desirability and the importance of the oneself-evaluated of the target feature moderated the results of social comparison.