The moral superiority of temporal (vs. social) comparisons

Abstract

Brands often encourage consumers to compare themselves to two types of standards: other people (i.e., social comparisons) and their own past (i.e., temporal comparisons). Although research has drawn many parallels between these two self-comparisons, relatively little work has examined how they diverge. Moreover, existing research on their differences focuses on individuals engaging in—rather than brands encouraging—different self-comparisons. The present research identifies moral perceptions as one critical dimension on which brand-elicited temporal and social comparisons differ. Four studies find that evoking downward social (vs. temporal) comparisons undermines brand morality perceptions and, consequently, brand evaluations and choice. Providing preliminary insight into the mechanism, when brands evoke downward social (vs. temporal) comparisons, consumers perceive them as promoting status-seeking behavior, which mediates morality judgments. Furthermore, the effects of comparison type are eliminated among consumers with stronger status motives—those who are less prone to condemn status-seeking behavior. Altogether, these findings reveal a lay belief in the moral superiority of downward temporal (vs. social) comparisons and the downstream consequences for brands that elicit such comparisons.