Psychological Development and Education ›› 2016, Vol. 32 ›› Issue (3): 257-264.doi: 10.16187/j.cnki.issn1001-4918.2016.03.01

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Social Comparison's Effects on Cognitive and Affective Trust in Middle School Students

XU Fen, ZHOU Xiaoyu, MA Fengling   

  1. Department of Psychology, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hang Zhou 310018
  • Online:2016-05-15 Published:2016-05-15

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Abstract: The present study investigated the social comparison's effects on cognitive and affective trust of middle school students who were in different friendship states, and to further analyze the mediation effects of the cognitive and affective trust in the relationship between social comparison and intimacy change in friendship. 522 valid participants (Mage=12.87, SD=0.67) nominated one most intimate friend at the beginning of term. After midterm examination, we asked subjects to compare their own class rankings with their nominated friends' class rankings in a 7-level ladder. Then subjects rated their cognitive and affective trust to their nominated friends in a 7-point Likert scale. Finally, subjects reevaluated the intimacy of their nominated friends. The results show that:compared to upward comparison, subjects who compared downward, had higher affective trust to their close friends (the second intimacy did not change); Social comparison had no effect on cognitive trust. Compared to downward comparison, subjects who compared upward had higher affective and cognitive trust to their ordinary friends (the second intimacy decreased). The mediation analyses indicated that only cognitive trust fully mediated the relationship between social comparison and intimacy change in friendship, compared to downward comparison, upward comparison had an indirect positive effect on friendship intimacy through cognitive trust.

Key words: middle school students, social comparison, affective trust, cognitive trust, friendship

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