Social Comparison Strategies Research Articles

Social Comparison and Its Relation to Body Dissatisfaction in Bulimia Nervosa: Evidence From Eye Movements

To determine the role of social comparison for body dissatisfaction in bulimia nervosa (BN). Previous research suggested that exposure to media content idealizing thin body shape decreases body satisfaction, particularly in women with eating disorder symptoms. This might be due to the negative outcome of social comparisons with media models, and women with eating disorders might be particularly susceptible because they engage in upward social comparison more frequently than women without these symptoms. However, no study has yet explored both upward (i.e., toward more attractive others) and downward (i.e., toward less attractive others) social comparisons and their impact on body dissatisfaction in a clinical eating disorder and healthy controls. We presented patients with BN (n = 20) and healthy controls (HC) (n = 22) with slides comprising a digitized image of their own body alongside comparison bodies with higher and lower body mass indices (BMIs) while measuring their eye movements. As hypothesized, patients with BN fixated longer on comparison bodies with lower BMIs than controls, with the reverse pattern for high BMI bodies. This gaze pattern suggests that upward comparisons were more prevalent in the BN group. Furthermore, upward comparisons were related to a drop in body satisfaction in the BN group. Disadvantageous social comparison strategies might be related to body dissatisfaction and therefore to the maintenance of BN.

Social comparison, coping and depression in people with spinal cord injury

The present study among 70 people with spinal cord injury examined the prevalence and correlates of identification (seeing others as a potential future) and contrast (seeing others in competitive terms) in social comparison as related to coping and depression. The most prevalent social comparison strategy was downward contrast (a positive response to seeing others who were worse-off), followed by upward identification (a positive response to perceiving better-off others as a potential future), downward identification (a negative response to perceiving worse-off others as a potential future), and upward contrast (a negative response to seeing others who were better-off). Those with less severe lesions reported the highest levels of upward contrast, coping through blaming others, and depression. Downward contrast was particularly related to constructive coping, and upward identification to wishful thinking. The less adaptive social comparison strategies, i.e., upward contrast and downward identification, were quite strongly related to wishful thinking and blaming others. Particularly upward contrast, i.e., feeling bad as response to seeing that others are better-off, was related to depression.

Quality of life perceptions and social comparisons in healthy old age

This paper reports a study of the influence of healthy older people's type of residence and social comparison strategies on their quality of life perceptions. Data were collected from 190 participants aged 65 or more years resident in one London Borough. Participants were classified by their type of residence, and their quality of life was assessed by the Schedule for Evaluation of Individual Quality of Life: Direct Weighting (SEIQoL-DW). Among the reported social comparison judgements, the dominant strategy was ‘Downward Contrast’. It was the sole strategy for 78 per cent of those studied, and was significantly associated with a higher perceived quality of life. Among other statistically significant findings, it was found that positive orientation, optimistic orientation, and the use of Contrast rather than Identification comparisons associated with a better reported quality of life. The over-riding influence of Downward Contrast comparisons was also confirmed: this strategy appears to be adaptive and functional in enhancing perceived quality of life. The effect is not mediated by depression, although differences in comparison strategy were observed among groups with different residential status. The possibility of an intervention to enhance the perceived quality of life is discussed.

Contexts of System Justification and System Evaluation: Exploring the Social Comparison Strategies of the (Not Yet) Contented Female Worker

Those who are historic targets of discrimination seem surprisingly likely to accept their situation, a phenomenon Jost and Banaji (1994) call system justification. One assumption in system justification theory, however, is that the need to justify builds over time as individuals develop an investment in the system they have implicitly helped to perpetuate. This possibility was tested as it relates to social comparison of pay. An experimental study involving 100 participants (50 men and 50 women) found that women made intragroup comparisons with other women to gauge their satisfaction with a pay rate when it was framed as compensation for past work but they made intergroup comparisons with men to gauge their satisfaction with a pay rate when it was framed as part of an offer for future employment.

Social comparison and differentiation strategies in social representations of intelligence

The two studies presented here analyse the effect of conditions of social comparison on the organisation of social representations of intelligence. In order to induce the comparisons, participants were asked successively to describe either the intelligence of humans and that of animals (Study 1), or the intelligence of men and that of women (Study 2). Results indicate that a comparison between species leads to maximising the differences between the two forms of intelligence, by increasing the relevance of the categories' most typical dimensions in the descriptions of their respective forms of intelligence. The induction of a comparison between male intelligence and female intelligence produces effects that differ according to participants' own sex. Whereas male participants are led to accentuate the differences between the two forms of intelligence, female participants seem to look for similarity rather than for difference. The differentiations produced suggest, moreover, that the structure of the representations resulting from a comparison between two categories of unequal status tends to legitimate their respective positions in the social structure.

The effects of a computer skill training programme adopting social comparison and self-efficacy enhancement strategies on self-concept and skill outcome in trainees with physical disabilities

Purpose : The aim of this controlled, quasi-experimental study was to evaluate the effects of both self-efficacy enhancement and social comparison training strategy on computer skills learning and self-concept outcome of trainees with physical disabilities. Method : The self-efficacy enhancement group comprised 16 trainees, the tutorial training group comprised 15 trainees, and there were 25 subjects in the control group. Both the self-efficacy enhancement group and the tutorial training group received a 15 week computer skills training course, including generic Chinese computer operation, Chinese word processing and Chinese desktop publishing skills. The self-efficacy enhancement group received training with tutorial instructions that incorporated self-efficacy enhancement strategies and experienced self-enhancing social comparisons. The tutorial training group received behavioural learning-based tutorials only, and the control group did not receive any training. The following measurements were employed to evaluate the outcomes: the Self-Concept Questionnaire for the Physically Disabled Hong Kong Chinese (SCQPD), the computer selfefficacy rating scale and the computer performance rating scale. Results : The self-efficacy enhancement group showed significantly better computer skills learning outcome, total selfconcept, and social self-concept than the tutorial training group. The self-efficacy enhancement group did not show significant changes in their computer self-efficacy; however, the tutorial training group showed a significant lowering of their computer self-efficacy. Conclusions : The training strategy that incorporated selfefficacy enhancement and positive social comparison experiences maintained the computer self-efficacy of trainees with physical disabilities. This strategy was more effective in improving the learning outcome ( p = 0.01) and self-concept ( p = 0.05) of the trainees than the conventional tutorial-based training strategy.

Study of some determinants of social comparison strategies using a new methodological tool: towards a dynamic approach

In addition to proposing a new method for testing the variability of social comparison strategies, this study looks at whether and how the social value of the comparison dimensions affect those strategies. After being attributed a superior, neutral, or inferior position on a dimension with a high or low social value, subjects were told they had to select 10 persons in order to choose a working partner among 30 comparison targets. Two pieces of information (a performance and a personality trait) presented in a table on a computer screen were given as a basis for the choice. The results showed that the social value of the dimension was an important determinant of the social comparison strategies, and that variability of these strategies appeared only when inferiority was experienced on a socially-valued dimension. While pointing out the relevance of the method employed, the results suggest the merits of taking the social value of comparison dimensions into account, and of studying social comparison process from a dynamic rather than static point of view.

Social Comparison in Medical School: What Students Say About Gender and Similarity

The social comparison strategies of 43 (21 female, 22 male) fourth-year medical students were surveyed to determine the influence of student and target gender on comparison selections. Questions were included to see what types of comparisons (standard-setter, universalistic, particularistic, and downward) students made in five domains (diagnostic ability, relationships with patients, clinical skills, writing patient reports, and relationships with physicians). Results showed that women compared themselves to female and male targets and men tended to compare themselves to male targets. In general, standard-setter and universalistic-comparisons were most prevalent, suggesting that self-improvement and self-evaluative goals played a significant role in the comparison process. Convenience of comparison other was also identified as a significant determinant of comparison selection. Overall, these results showed that similarity is an important determinant of comparison choice, but, contrary to previous research...

From top dog to bottom half: Social comparison strategies in response to poor performance.

From top dog to bottom half: Social comparison strategies in response to poor performance.

From top dog to bottom half: social comparison strategies in response to poor performance.

Although the hypothesis that people will alter comparison behavior in response to threat is consistent with the formulation of social comparison theory, the empirical evidence for the natural occurrence of such shifts is weak. Two studies were conducted to examine this hypothesis. In the first study, adolescents' perceptions were assessed before, during, and 6 months after their participation in an academic program for gifted students. Male students who performed poorly, and also worse than they had expected in the program, demonstrated self-protective "strategies" by lowering the amount and level of academic comparison they reported engaging in and by lowering their perception of the importance of academics. Female students, who generally performed as well as expected, reported relatively little change. By follow-up, most of the male students' perceptions had returned to baseline. A second study found that both male and female college students who thought they had performed poorly academically also demonstrated these shifts in comparison. Motivations behind the strategies are discussed.

Type A and self-evaluations: A social comparison perspective

This paper provides an overview of several recent Type A models that focus on negative self-evaluations as a prominent characteristic underlying the Type A pattern. Following a presentation of these models, it is proposed that Type A individuals may use maladaptive social comparison strategies that contribute to their negative self-evaluations and negative affect. In particular, a self-worth contingency model of Type A is integrated with the social comparison literature to provide a framework for detailing aberrant social comparison processes. Using this model, it is proposed that the dysfunctional contingencies of self-worth endorsed by Type A individuals, along with their negative self-schemata, may help regulate and guide their maladaptive social comparison strategies. Finally, several of the more general implications of aberrant social comparison strategies are described. These include Type A interpersonal and social concerns, coping difficulties, and assessment and intervention issues.

Downward Social Comparison in the Minimal Intergroup Situation: A Test of a Self‐Enhancement Interpretation1

We tested some implications of Wills' (1981) downward comparison interpretation of ingroup bias in the minimal intergroup paradigm. Based on a self‐enhancement interpretation of ingroup bias, we predicted that subjects who expected to succeed on a task for dispositional reasons and subsequently failed would be most threatened by the feedback and hence, would engage in downward social comparison strategies. The results did not support the self‐enhancement interpretation, but a number of interesting findings emerged. First, downward social comparison involving favorable comparisons of the ingroup relative to the outgroup was pervasive and not mediated by self‐esteem. Second, ingroup bias was greatest when individuals' outcomes were consistent with their expectations; ingroup bias was mitigated when subjects received feedback that was inconsistent with their expectations. Third, although low self‐esteem subjects rated members of the outgroup more negatively than did high self‐esteem subjects, high self‐esteem subjects engaged in more downward social comparison by enhancing the self relative to both members of the outgroup and their own ingroup. Finally, self‐enhancement strategies were affected by performance expectations, attributions, and chronic self‐esteem: People who expected to perform well because of stable, dispositional reasons and who were high in self‐esteem showed the greatest tendency to engage in self‐enhancing comparisons with others. This was true regardless of whether subjects ultimately succeeded or failed on the important task and regardless of whether the comparison others were members of the outgroup or the ingroup.