Similarity as threat: A motivational explanation of self–other similarity judgment asymmetry
Junhua Dang
Department of Psychology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
Search for more papers by this authorShanshan Xiao
Department of Psychology, Peking University, Beijing, China
Search for more papers by this authorXiaoyan Sun
Department of Educational Psychology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Search for more papers by this authorN.Y. Louis Lee
Centre for Learning Enhancement and Research, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Lihua Mao
Department of Psychology, Peking University, Beijing, China
Correspondence to: Lihua Mao, Department of Psychology, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.
E-mail: [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorJunhua Dang
Department of Psychology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
Search for more papers by this authorShanshan Xiao
Department of Psychology, Peking University, Beijing, China
Search for more papers by this authorXiaoyan Sun
Department of Educational Psychology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Search for more papers by this authorN.Y. Louis Lee
Centre for Learning Enhancement and Research, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Lihua Mao
Department of Psychology, Peking University, Beijing, China
Correspondence to: Lihua Mao, Department of Psychology, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.
E-mail: [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorAbstract
People tend to judge others to be more similar to themselves than themselves are to others. This self–other similarity judgment asymmetry was often explained by a cognitive model. However, some findings were inconsistent with this model, implying that there might be complementary processes underlying such asymmetry. Although a motivational explanation has been proposed to account for the asymmetry, little evidence has been accumulated to verify this explanation and differentiate it from the cognitive model. The current research tested both the core assumption of the motivational explanation as well as a hypothesis derived only from it. Results suggest that the perception of oneself as being similar to others was more threatening to people's uniqueness than the perception of others as being similar to oneself. Individuals with high need for uniqueness exhibited greater asymmetry than did individuals with low need. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
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