Peper, Philip E2018-08-282018-08-282018https://hdl.handle.net/11299/199845A Plan B Project submitted to the faculty of University of Minnesota by Philip E. Peper, BAS, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychological Sciences (Experimental). Faculty advisors: Robert Lloyd, Ph.D., Chair, Scott Carlson, Ph.D., and Robert Schroer, Ph.D.Social comparison, whether upward or downward, can cause consequences that hinder working memory performance. The present study aimed to illuminate possible moderators and mediators of the threatening effect of social comparison on working memory capacity. No significant group differences were found, so moderation and mediation analyses were not conducted. However, across comparison groups, exploratory analyses revealed negative affect and peak sympathetic nervous system arousal both negatively and significantly predicted working memory performance. Greater research is needed to determine whether these variables mediate the phenomenon and discover whom is most susceptible to detriments.enSocial comparisonWorking memoryThreatCollege of Education and Human Service ProfessionsUniversity of Minnesota DuluthMaster of ArtsPlan Bs (project-based master's degrees)Master of Arts in Psychological ScienceDepartment of PsychologyExperimental trackScholarly Text or Essay