Same meaning but different feelings: Different expressions influence satisfaction in social comparisons

The same social comparison information may be expressed in different ways (e.g. I am better than him' versus he is worse than me'). The results of four studies indicated that the way social comparison is expressed can affect an individual's satisfaction (i.e. better' versus worse'). Specifically, in upward comparisons, the expression I am worse than him' makes individuals feel less satisfied than the expression he is better than me'. In downward comparisons, those who use the expression I am better than him' are more satisfied than those who use the expression he is worse than me'. The motivation of information processing acted as the mediator.National Natural Science Foundation of China [71172024, 71472005, 91224002]SSCIARTICLE263-742