Dr. Kathi Diel

Dr. Kathi Diel

Research Interests

My research investigates social comparison processes and how upward versus downward comparisons affect people’s motivation and emotions. Beyond that, I examine how different states or dispositional traits influence people’s perception of their social environment and their selection of comparison standards. In another line of research, I study the interpersonal functions of humor and how people use humor to socially connect (e.g. affiliative humor, fun) or to keep others at distance (e.g. sarcasm, teasing).

Publications

Unkelbach, C., Alves, H., Baldwin, M., Crusius, J., Diel, K., Galinsky, A. D., Gast, A., Hofmann, W., Imhoff, R., Genschow, O., Lammers, J., Pauels, E., Schneider, I. K., Topolinski, S., Westfal, M., & Mussweiler, T. (in press). Relativity in social cognition: Basic processes and novel applications of social comparisons. European Review of Social Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1080/10463283.2022.2161043

Diel*, K., Broeker*, L., Raab, M., & Hofmann, W. (2021). Motivational and emotional effects of social comparison in Sports. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 57, 102048. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychsport.2021.102048
*shared first authorship.

Diel, K., Grelle, S., & Hofmann, W. (2021). A motivational Framework of social comparison. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 120(6), 1415-1430. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspa0000204

Fleischmann, A., Lammers, J., Diel, K., Hofmann, W., & Galinsky, A. D. (2021). More threatening and more diagnostic: How moral comparisons differ from social comparisons. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspi0000361

Hofmann, W., Dohle, S., & Diel, K. (2020). Changing behavior using integrative self-control theory. In: M. S. Hagger, L. D. Cameron, K. Hamilton, N. Hankonen, & T. Lintunen (Eds.), The handbook of behavior change (pp. 150 - 163). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Rom, S.C., Katzir, M., Diel, K., & Hofmann, W. (2019). On trading off labor and leisure: a process model of perceived autonomy and opportunity costs. Motivation Science. https://doi.org/10.1037/mot0000148

Diel, K., & Hofmann, W. (2019). Inspired to perspire: The predicted interplay of social comparison direction and standard extremity in the context of challenging exercising goals. Social Cognition, 37, 247-265. https://doi.org/10.1521/soco.2019.37.3.247

Dohle, S., Diel, K., & Hofmann, W. (2018). Executive functions and the self-regulation of eating behavior: A review. Appetite, 124, 4-9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2017.05.041

Hofmann, W., Diel, K., & Seibel, M. (2018). Foods, sex, and drugs: Appetitive desires and subjective well-being. In E. Diener & S. Oishi (Eds.), Handbook of well-being. Salt Lake City, UT: DEF Publishers.