Social Comparison Is Basic to Social Psychology

Abstract

Social comparison is one of the classic social psychological themes that many social psychologists like, appreciate, and respect. In fact, some argue that social comparison theory seems to be everybody's second most favorite theory. Why are most of us such fans of social comparison theory? Undoubtedly, one reason is that social comparison processes are recognizable in ourselves and others. For several attributes, achievements, or opinions, we want to know our standing relative to others, we want to have social validation, we want to think of ourselves as at least as good as others, and so on. A complementary reason is that social comparison is basic to understanding how people think, feel, act, and interact. Also, important life outcomes, such as happiness and even health, are shaped by social comparison activities. Last but not least, social comparison is relevant from various levels of analysis, including the individual level, the interpersonal level, the group level, and societal level of analysis. In my view, Social Comparison and Social Psychology: Understanding Cognition, Inter group Relations, and Culture does a very goodjob of highlighting the importance of social comparison. Like most other volumes, it provides an up-to-date synthesis of the most recent empirical and theoretical developments. But it does much more. First, the editor explicates the notion that social comparison is very intimately related to social psychology. Indeed, social comparison should not be regarded as a specialized topic or as an island in the sea of social psychology. Rather, social comparison is relevant to many or most areas of social psychology and therefore should be regarded as integral to social psychology. I found the introductory chapter to be theoretically enriching in that it relates social comparison to other theoretical frameworks, such as social identity theory (Tajfel & Turner, 1986) and