[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-detail-85282-en":3,"doc-seo-85282-105":29,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":83},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",{"doc_id":7,"user_id":8,"nickname":9,"user_avatar":10,"doc_module":4,"category_id":11,"category_name":12,"doc_title":13,"doc_description":14,"doc_content":15,"file_id":16,"file_url":17,"file_type":18,"file_size":19,"view_count":20,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":20,"is_downloadable":20,"audit_status":20,"page_count":21,"language":22,"language_code":23,"site_id":24,"html_lang":23,"table_of_contents":25,"faqs":26,"seo_title":13,"seo_description":14,"update_tm":27,"read_time":28},85282,1374391974585,"Genevieve","https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_276721f389ce27ea32af1340a28f341c",8,"Research & Report","Same Stories Different Journeys From Social Comparison to Sensemaking in AI Mediated Peer Career Exploration","Young job seekers often use social media to compare with peers and make sense of career possibilities, yet passive feed browsing creates a paradox: authentic peer narratives provide emotional grounding while also triggering upward social comparison and cognitive overload. Prior approaches either restructure user-generated content to reduce noise in passive browsing or build AI exploration that ignores authentic experiences. JobMate addresses this gap by converting real posts into persona-grounded conversational AI agents, and a between-subjects study shows constructive self-reframing and active sensemaking with lower cognitive cost.","arXiv :2607 . 11039v1 [ cs .HC] 13 Jul 2026  \nSame Stories, Different Journeys: From Social Comparison to Sensemaking in AI-Mediated Peer Career Exploration  \nPengping Tan  \nSun Yat-sen University Guangzhou, China [tanpp5@mail2.sysu.edu.cn](tanpp5@mail2.sysu.edu.cn)  \nBaoquan Zhao Sun Yat-sen University  \nZhuhai, China [zhaobaoquan@mail.sysu.edu.cn](zhaobaoquan@mail.sysu.edu.cn)  \n* Zhenhui Peng  \nSun Yat-sen University Zhuhai, China  \n[pengzhh29@mail.sysu.edu.cn](pengzhh29@mail.sysu.edu.cn)  \nFigure 1: End-to-end experience: native RedNote-style career feeds give way to structured persona fields (background, outcome, challenges, summary), surfaced as scannable cards with a chat entry point—shifting exploration from passive scrolling to persona-grounded dialogue while keeping real posts as the source.  \nAbstract  \nYoung job seekers frequently turn to social media to compare themselves with peers and make sense of career possibilities. However, passive feed browsing creates a paradox: the authentic peer content that provides emotional grounding also triggers potentially detrimental upward social comparison and cognitive overload. Previous work has either structured online user-generated content to reduce noise without changing the passive browsing modality, or built AI-powered career exploration systems that disregard authentic human experiences. To address this gap, we developed JobMate, an interactive system that transforms real social media career posts into persona-grounded conversational AI agents, shifting the interaction from passive scrolling to active, personalized dialogue. We conducted a between-subjects study (􀀣 = 24, three disciplines) comparing JobMate with native RedNote browsing. Our study shows that JobMate’s AI-mediated dialogue redirected social comparison  \nPreprint, 2026.  \nfrom potentially detrimental upward comparison toward constructive self-reframing, while promoting sensemaking through active conversational engagement. However, users still relied on the authenticity of real peer content for emotional grounding. We discuss design implications for AI systems that augment authentic online user-generated content consumption across social comparison contexts.  \nCCS Concepts  \n• Human-centered computing → Natural language interfaces; Empirical studies in interaction design; Collaborative and social computing systems and tools.  \nKeywords  \nCareer exploration, Social comparison, Sensemaking, Persona-grounded agents, Social media UGC, Retrieval-augmented generation, Selfdetermination theory  \n1 Introduction  \nYoung job seekers increasingly turn to social media to find peers with comparable backgrounds whose career trajectories can serve as references for self-positioning [3, 25] . These authentic narratives provide situated guidance that formal counseling often cannot deliver [17, 19] . Yet the same browsing process also inflicts harm: exposure to peer achievements triggers upward social comparison, increasing career frustration and anxiety [2, 24, 45], while noisy feeds produce cognitive overload and “pseudo-clarity” that dissolves because information was passively received rather than actively processed [28, 37] . Our formative study (64 survey responses, 8 in-depth interviews) confirmed both sides: participants valued authentic peer experiences above all other career references, yet described “saving many posts but never revisiting them” and feeling anxious when encountering others’ achievements.  \nPrevious work has either structured user-generated content to reduce noise [6, 22, 44] without changing the passive browsing modality, or built AI career exploration tools [10, 15, 20, 41] that shift to active dialogue but rely on synthetic content. Large language model persona agents [14, 27, 47] offer engaging conversation, but existing personas are either fully synthetic or user-configured, with none grounded in real others’ experiences. No prior work has simultaneously preserved authentic peer content and tra","cbCaicRm3TB117VQ","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaicRm3TB117VQ","pdf",6435020,1,16,"English","en",105,"# Introduction\n# Related Work\n## Social Comparison and Peer Experience Consumption\n## AI-Mediated Career Exploration","[{\"question\":\"What did the between-subjects study find about JobMate’s effectiveness and cognitive cost?\",\"answer\":\"Both JobMate and native browsing reduced decision-making difficulties, but JobMate achieved this with significantly lower cognitive cost; it also redirected social comparison from self-deficiency to planning what to do next.\"}]",1784202243,40,{"code":4,"msg":30,"data":31},"ok",{"site_id":24,"language":23,"slug":32,"title":13,"keywords":33,"description":14,"schema_data":34,"social_meta":78,"head_meta":80,"extra_data":82,"updated_unix":27},"same-stories-different-journeys-from-social-comparison-to-sensemaking-in-ai-mediated-peer-career-exploration","",{"@graph":35,"@context":77},[36,53,68],{"@type":37,"itemListElement":38},"BreadcrumbList",[39,43,47,50],{"item":40,"name":41,"@type":42,"position":20},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":44,"name":45,"@type":42,"position":46},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":48,"name":12,"@type":42,"position":49},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":51,"name":13,"@type":42,"position":52},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/same-stories-different-journeys-from-social-comparison-to-sensemaking-in-ai-mediated-peer-career-exploration/85282/",4,{"url":51,"name":13,"@type":54,"author":55,"headline":13,"publisher":57,"fileFormat":60,"inLanguage":23,"description":14,"dateModified":61,"datePublished":62,"encodingFormat":60,"isAccessibleForFree":63,"interactionStatistic":64},"DigitalDocument",{"name":9,"@type":56},"Person",{"url":40,"name":58,"@type":59},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-07-17","2026-07-16",true,{"@type":65,"interactionType":66,"userInteractionCount":20},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":67},"ViewAction",{"@type":69,"mainEntity":70},"FAQPage",[71],{"name":72,"@type":73,"acceptedAnswer":74},"What did the between-subjects study find about JobMate’s effectiveness and cognitive cost?","Question",{"text":75,"@type":76},"Both JobMate and native browsing reduced decision-making difficulties, but JobMate achieved this with significantly lower cognitive cost; it also redirected social comparison from self-deficiency to planning what to do next.","Answer","https://schema.org",{"og:url":51,"og:type":79,"og:title":13,"og:site_name":58,"og:description":14},"article",{"robots":81,"canonical":51},"index,follow",{"doc_id":7,"site_id":24},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":84},[85,89,93,97,102,107,111,114,119,122,126],{"id":20,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":86,"show_sort_weight":87,"slug":88},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":46,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":90,"show_sort_weight":91,"slug":92},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":52,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":94,"show_sort_weight":95,"slug":96},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":98,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":99,"show_sort_weight":100,"slug":101},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":103,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":104,"show_sort_weight":105,"slug":106},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":108,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":109,"show_sort_weight":28,"slug":110},7,"Healthcare","healthcare",{"id":11,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":12,"show_sort_weight":112,"slug":113},30,"research-report",{"id":115,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":116,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":118},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":117,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":120,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":121},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":123,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":124,"show_sort_weight":123,"slug":125},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":127,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":128,"show_sort_weight":98,"slug":129},19,"General","general"]