Hiking the Hypothetical Trail in Two Directions: How Reversing the Direction of Comparisons Can Advance Psychology

Abstract

Comparisons in psychological research are often directional, with one entity (a group, situation, condition, or measurement) that is the “target” of the comparison being compared to a baseline or reference point (the “referent”). A particular unidirectional framing often gets entrenched in a research tradition. This can be problematic because people (including researchers) focus disproportionately on the target rather than on the referent of directional comparisons. They thus mainly seek explanations for differences or similarities in processes associated with the target. As a consequence, a unidirectional perspective obscures ideas and impedes theoretical progress, particularly if the designation of the referent was arbitrary (i.e., not representing a default) to begin with. We first examine mechanisms that entail unidirectionality in research traditions. Drawing primarily on social psychology (but with an eye toward the broader field of psychology), we review examples in which a dominant unidirectional perspective has been fruitfully challenged. We then present four case studies from domains characterized by unidirectionality in which reversing the direction of comparison could stimulate new insights. We provide guidelines for avoiding or reversing one-way theoretical paths and consider metaquestions that our analysis provokes. We end with limitations of our work and recommendations for future research.