Previous studies have indicated that social comparison influences regulatory focus process. Recently, Mussweiler & Mayer(2011)argued that non-social numerical comparison could also influence regulatory focus process and tried to provide new insight into studies of comparison process. The present study tested the validity of their argument by replicating two experiments that they conducted. In study 1, participants who were numerically induced to compare a smaller stimulus with a larger stimulus traded speed for accuracy in the calculation task. Conversely, participants who had compared a larger stimulus with a smaller stimulus traded accuracy for speed. In study 2, numerical comparison did not influence the performance of the calculation task. These results refute the findings of Mussweiler & Mayer(2011). The influence of numerical comparison is discussed and criticized in terms of self-assignment, evaluative aspect of social comparison, and the feature of self-regulation
