Why the top of the board is shown but the middle is hidden
Showing the top few names and the user’s own position hides the stagnant middle, where most people sit, so the ranking feels aspirational rather than discouraging.
Filed by The Archivist 2 min read
Intuition test — answer before you read on
Why do apps show only the top of a leaderboard and the user’s own rank?
Correct answer: B
Option A is a practical constraint that does not explain why the middle is specifically hidden rather than the bottom. Option C describes revealed preference shaped by the design, not an independent user need. Social-comparison research shows that the subset of comparisons shown determines motivation, and hiding the middle keeps the gap aspirational.
A ride-hailing app shows drivers the top five earners of the week and then, separately, the driver’s own rank. The forty ranks between are collapsed into a grey bar. The driver sees the summit and their own position but never the crowd between, which is where most of the field lives.
What everyone sees
The truncated view is treated as a screen-space decision: mobile screens are small, so only the most relevant data is shown. The top matters for aspiration, and the user’s own position matters for tracking. Hiding the middle is a UX concession, not a motivational choice.
What is actually happening
Lockwood and Kunda showed that upward social comparison is motivating when the target is seen as attainable, but demoralising when the distance feels insurmountable. By showing only the top and the user’s own rank, the app creates a selective comparison: the user compares with an aspirational few rather than a congested middle that would normalise mediocrity. Collins’s research on social-comparison selection confirms that people are most affected by the subset of comparisons they are shown, not the full distribution.
Why it stays hidden
The edit hides because the user never asks for the missing ranks. The interface does not feel incomplete — it feels focused. The grey bar in the middle carries no data, generates no curiosity, and absorbs no attention, which is exactly why it works.
Show the summit and the user’s position. Hide the crowd in between, and the ranking feels like a climb, not a queue.
Show the summit and the user’s position. Hide the crowd in between, and the ranking feels like a climb, not a queue.
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Show the summit and the user’s position. Hide the crowd in between, and the ranking feels like a climb, not a queue.
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Sources & further reading 2
- Lockwood & Kunda — Superstars and me: predicting the impact of role models on the self
- Collins — For better or worse: the impact of upward social comparison on self-evaluations
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