Downward social comparison enhances regulators' willingness to engage in interpersonal emotion regulation

Social comparison (SC) can influence perceptions and behaviours towards others, but it is unclear how the outcomes of SC between the regulator and the target affect the regulator's willingness to down-regulate their partner's negative emotions in interpersonal emotion regulation (IER). This study investigated whether regulators were more likely to implement IER strategies (cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression) to down-regulate their partners' negative emotions rather than ignoring them (non-IER strategy: permit any reaction) in downward SC compared to in upward SC. Thirty-six stranger dyads of native Chinese completed a social comparison task manipulating different SC conditions (downward vs. lateral vs. upward), then underwent a dyadic IER task. Results showed regulators selected IER strategies more often in the downward comparison condition than in the upward one. Using upward SC as the reference, positive emotions from downward and lateral SC positively influenced IER strategy choice, indicating that such emotions may motivate individuals to use IER strategies. Additionally, compared to upward SC, the regulator's accuracy in recognising the target's emotions was higher in downward or lateral SC. In conclusion, the research demonstrated that the differential types of SC between regulators and targets impact the process of IER, providing insights into the social factors affecting IER.