Unfavorable Social Comparisons Research Articles

Psychometric Properties of the Social Defeat Scale in the Colombian Population

Theoretical Framework: Social defeat is the feeling of breaking a status or goals, due to loss or difficulty in reaching resources, humiliation or social attack, self-criticism, unfavorable social comparison and unrealistic expectations, related to psychopathology and suicidality. Objective and Method: The aim of the study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Social Defeat Scale in 412 Colombian adults. To explore the discriminant validity, the Social Well-being Scale was used, and to explore the convergent validity, the Okasha Suicidality Scale was used. Results and Discussion: The exploratory factor analysis showed a two-dimensional structure, both factors presented good internal consistency. Confirmatory factor analysis found good fit indicators for the unifactorial model. Convergent validity was found with suicidality and discriminant validity with social welfare. The Colombian version of the Social Defeat Scale is valid for evaluating social defeat, a relevant concept in Colombia given the high rates of social disadvantage and mental health problems in its population. Implications: Having an instrument that evaluates social defeat adapted to the Colombian context contributes to detecting mediating variables between the complex social scenario of the country and mental health, to the development of preventive and intervention strategies based on evidence, considering psychosocial aspects poorly integrated into current public health policies. Originality/Value: Currently, the scale only exists in an English version, in Brazilian Portuguese and in Spanish, validated in the Chilean population.

The modification of social space as a tool for lowering social stress

The social stress experienced by an individual from having a low relative income or from having a low income-based rank is a derivative of the individual's location in social space, and is the outcome of unfavorable comparisons with other individuals in that space. (The term social space stands for the set of individuals with whose incomes or with whose income-based ranks the individual compares his income or his income-based rank.) The stress that arises from unfavorable social comparisons can cause physical and mental harm. Essentially, there are three ways to thwart unfavorable income-related comparisons experienced by an individual: to operate on the individual's income or on a characteristic (an attribute) of the individual's income; to operate on the incomes or on a characteristic of the incomes of the individual's comparators; or to modify the individual's social space. The first two approaches feature extensively in the existing literature. The third does not. In this communication, I analyze this third approach, keeping in mind its application as a policy tool for lowering social stress.

Upward social comparison on standardized test performance in adolescents and adults

The use of standardized testing and its effects on students has undergone increasing debate in recent years. We utilized experimentally induced upward social comparison to better performing peers, which refers to comparing oneself to someone perceived as superior, versus comparison to peers who performed similarly. We hypothesized that this type of comparison affects adolescents’ actual and perceived standardized test performance in a subsequent standardized test and their self-efficacy, their belief in their capacity to succeed, more severely as compared to adults. A sample of adolescents and adults completed ten questions from the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT). Then, every participant regardless of their actual score received false feedback, indicating that they scored in either the 10th percentile or the 50th percentile. Following the feedback, their performance on a second set of ten SAT questions, perceived performance on the second test, and self-efficacy was assessed. Our results partially support the presumed effects. A lower performance in the second test and less confidence about one’s performance was associated with comparing negatively in adolescents. This was not the case for self-efficacy. Fisher’s Z-test suggests that the correlation between negative comparisons and test performance, as well as between negative comparisons and perceived competency, was more negative in adolescents than in adults, suggesting that adolescents respond worse to negative comparisons. No such difference was found for self-efficacy. These results demonstrate the potential for unfavorable social comparisons by adolescents regarding standardized testing, and future studies are needed to investigate broader implications like how standardized testing impacts student mental health.

Social anxiety and interpersonal risk for suicidal ideation: A longitudinal daily diary analysis.

Social anxiety is associated with elevated suicidal ideation (SI). One potential explanation is that socially anxious persons experience frequent interpersonal stressors that elicit SI. Longitudinal designs with temporal ordering are needed to adequately test this hypothesis. Therefore, this study leveraged a longitudinal design combining trait and daily reports. Two hundred eleven community adult participants with elevated levels of depression and/or social anxiety completed social anxiety and SI measures at baseline and again at a 1.5-month follow-up. Between these assessments, participants completed a 14-day diary study that assessed three forms of interpersonal distress: unfavorable social comparisons, perceived barriers to seeking social support, and loneliness. As predicted, simple mediation models revealed that baseline social anxiety had a significant indirect effect on SI severity at 1.5 months postbaseline via unfavorable social comparisons (indirect effect: β = 0.07, p < 0.05) and barriers to seeking support (indirect effect: β = 0.08, p < 0.05); however, social anxiety did not have a significant indirect effect on SI severity through loneliness. Study results are consistent with the proposition that increases in interpersonal distress may explain socially anxious persons' vulnerability to SI. Implications of these findings for the research, assessment, and treatment of suicidality in social anxiety are discussed.

The effectiveness of an instagram intervention targeted at men to reduce body dissatisfaction

Instagram is a hugely popular social media website; however, research has suggested that continued use of the site may lead to increased body dissatisfaction and lower body esteem. Materials intended to reduce these effects are available, but these often focus more on thinness and are intended for use by females. Male users tend to focus more on muscularity and leanness, and so these materials may not fully address male body image issues. In this paper, we created and tested materials intended to address this gap. These materials used two principles; media literacy, which educates users about the veracity of the images they see, and cognitive restructuring, which trains user to recognise unfavourable social comparisons they may make about themselves. Across two experimental studies (study 1 N = 192; study 2 N = 301), we found these materials were effective. Participants reported greater body image esteem, and lower body dissatisfaction after viewing materials. Moreover, they seemed to operate on increasing scepticism regarding the realism of images on social media. Narcissism as an individual difference moderated these effects, showing that high narcissism precluded the need for intervention because such individuals were unaffected by Instagram exposure. Ideas for future studies, including a forthcoming longitudinal examination of these effects are then discussed.

The dark side of detracking: Mixed-ability classrooms negatively affect the academic self-concept of students with low academic achievement

The labeling hypothesis argues that mixed-ability classrooms foster the academic self-concept of students with low academic achievement because they lose their negative track branding. The contrast hypothesis presents the opposing view that mixed-ability classrooms expose students with low academic achievement to higher achieving peers, thus harming their self-concept due to social comparisons. The present study used data from two detracking school reforms (NStudy1 = 78,330 students, NStudy2 = 2,202 students) and employed a cohort-control design to compare cohorts before detracking with cohorts after detracking. In both studies, students with low academic achievement had a lower self-concept in untracked cohorts than in the tracked ones. However, the self-concept of students with high academic achievement did not differ between the cohorts. Our study highlights potential side effects of detracking school reforms that might result from students with low academic achievement being exposed to unfavorable social comparison processes.

Relative deprivation and prosocial behavior: Evidence from South Korea

ABSTRACT Previous research suggests that the emotional consequences of unfavorable social comparisons determine individual attitudes and behaviors. However, few studies assessed the effect of relative deprivation on prosocial behaviors, and any evidence in the Asian context is particularly scarce. In this study, we examined the association between relative deprivation and prosociality among Korean adults. We used two complementary approaches involving experimental manipulation of relative deprivation via an online survey (Study 1) and an econometric analysis of longitudinal data (Study 2). Study 1 showed that exposure to the relative deprivation condition reduced participants’ willingness to donate, volunteer, and accept unwanted public facilities. Study 2 showed that relative disadvantage within the reference group was negatively related to the extensive and intensive margins of donating or volunteering. We conclude that relative disadvantage constitutes a major determinant of prosocial intention and behaviors among Korean adults.

Social Media and Mental Health

We provide quasi-experimental estimates of the impact of social media on mental health by leveraging a unique natural experiment: the staggered introduction of Facebook across US colleges. Our analysis couples data on student mental health around the years of Facebook’s expansion with a generalized difference-in-differences empirical strategy. We find that the rollout of Facebook at a college had a negative impact on student mental health. It also increased the likelihood with which students reported experiencing impairments to academic performance due to poor mental health. Additional evidence on mechanisms suggests the results are due to Facebook fostering unfavorable social comparisons. (JEL D91, I12, I23, L82)

Understanding How Salesperson Envy and Emotional Exhaustion Lead to Negative Consequences: The Role of Motivation

Understanding How Salesperson Envy and Emotional Exhaustion Lead to Negative Consequences: The Role of Motivation

Organizational-Performance Pay and Compensation Dispersion

We document the performance implications of compensation dispersion under organizational-performance pay, a scheme where individual compensation consists of a pre-designated share of rewards contingent on organizational performance. We examine the field setting of professional eSports athletes facing an exogenous change in the distribution of shares of team-based rewards. We find that unequal, heterogeneous share dispersion—relative to equal, homogeneous compression—results in lower organizational performance. While share dispersion aligns the incentives of high-share individuals with the organization’s—motivating them to contribute more—it also engenders unfavorable social comparison among low-share individuals—demoralizing them into contributing much less. A complementary controlled experiment validates the findings and demonstrates that organizational-performance pay, relative to other payment schemes, exacerbates the consequences of dispersion, especially when reward-sharing is cognitively salient.

Having less, giving less: The effects of unfavorable social comparisons of affluence on people’s willingness to act for the benefit of others

AbstractPrevious research has found a negative relationship between individual differences in personal relative deprivation (PRD; i.e., resentment stemming from the belief that one is worse off than similar others) and prosociality. Whether PRD causes reductions in people's willingness to act for the benefit of others, however, is yet to be established. Across six studies, we experimentally examined whether experiences of PRD via unfavorable (vs. favorable or lateral) social comparisons of affluence reduced prosociality toward known others and strangers. We found that making hypothetical (Study 1) or real (Study 2) unfavorable social comparisons of affluence in workplace contexts reduced participants’ organizational citizenship behavioral intentions. Furthermore, adverse social comparisons of affluence reduced generosity toward the targets of those comparisons during a Dictator Game (Studies 3 to 6). Across studies, we also measured participants’ subjective and objective socioeconomic status and found, contrary to previous theory and research, no consistent relationship between status and prosociality and no modulation of this relationship by either local or macro‐level inequality. These results suggest that local, specific interpersonal comparisons of affluence play a more dominant role in people's willingness to act for the benefit of a comparison target than do their subjective or objective class rank or the prevailing income inequality of the state in which they reside.

Envy effects on conflict dynamics in supervised work groups

At the end of the last century, chaos theory principles have helped organizational theorists to analyze several aspects of organizations and to account for their dynamic evolution. However, most of contributions remained relegated as qualitative discussions of organizational phenomena. In this paper, starting from effort allocations of subordinates in supervised work groups which were observed in a human participants interaction, we found evidence of nonlinear relation between the colleagues’ effort. In order to explain the large variability of behavior we observed, we consider those activated by unfavorable social comparison and propose a dynamical model. A theoretical dynamic model based on the empirical results appears to be powerful for modeling repeated interactions in a work group. Research and intervention design should focus on individual intolerance and beliefs about the reciprocal capacities between subordinates, which, according to our study, appear to play a key role in the inefficiency of equilibria observed in supervised work groups.

The powerful effect of body image inflexibility on the explanation of eating psychopathology severity.

Feelings of shame and social comparison focused on physical appearance have been identified as important risk factors for the engagement in disordered eating behaviours. Further, recent studies have emphasized the role of body-image psychological (in)flexibility in the association between several risk factors and eating psychopathology. The current study intended to explore, in two different path models, the effects of external shame, physical appearance-related social comparison, and body image inflexibility on the explanation of eating psychopathology severity. This study follows a cross-sectional design and was conducted in a sample of 776 emerging-adult women, aged between 18 and 28, who completed an online battery of self-report measures. Path analyses were conducted using a structural equation modeling. Model 1's results showed that external shame and unfavourable social comparison based on physical appearance directly accounts for 26% of the variance in disordered eating. In turn, when body image inflexibility is introduced as a mediator in the relationship presented in Model 1, variance in disordered eating increases to 60% (Model 2). These results suggest that both external shame and unfavourable physical appearance-related social comparison have an impact on disordered eating behaviours. However, when body image inflexibility is introduced, the mentioned relationships change and reveal that psychological inflexibility is a significant mediator of these associations. These findings seem to demonstrate that body image inflexibility is a key process for the engagement in disordered eating, so the promotion of psychological flexibility focused on one's body is crucial for the prevention and treatment of disordered eating behaviours and attitudes. Level IV: Cross-sectional study.

Social Media and Mental Health

The diffusion of social media coincided with a worsening of mental health conditions among adolescents and young adults in the United States, giving rise to speculation that social media might be detrimental to mental health. In this paper, we provide the first quasi-experimental estimates of the impact of social media on mental health by leveraging a unique natural experiment: the staggered introduction of Facebook across U.S. colleges. Our analysis couples data on student mental health around the years of Facebook's expansion with a generalized difference-in-differences empirical strategy. We find that the roll-out of Facebook at a college increased symptoms of poor mental health, especially depression, and led to increased utilization of mental healthcare services. We also find that, according to the students' reports, the decline in mental health translated into worse academic performance. Additional evidence on mechanisms suggests the results are due to Facebook fostering unfavorable social comparisons.

Relative food insecurity, mental health and wellbeing in 160 countries.

Food insecurity contributes to various stress-related health problems and previous research found that its association with mental illness is stronger in more affluent countries. We hypothesised that this pattern is a function of relative deprivation whereby the severity of individual food insecurity relative to others in a reference group determines its associations with mental health and wellbeing after differences in absolute food insecurity are controlled for. Using survey data from the Gallup World Poll collected in 160 countries and a measure of relative deprivation (Yitzhaki index), we found that relative food insecurity-based on national or regional reference groups-related to more mental health symptoms, lower positive wellbeing and lower life satisfaction after controlling for absolute food insecurity, household income, and country differences. Our analysis also found that relative food insecurity was more strongly related to mental health and wellbeing where the prevalence of food insecurity was lower. The findings underscore the negative health consequences of material deprivation and unfavourable social comparisons. Consistent with relative deprivation theory, individuals who live with constant worries about not getting enough food, have to skip meals, or face chronic hunger are deprived of material and social resources that support mental health and wellbeing, especially in settings where food insecurity is less common and potentially more stigmatised. The implications of these findings for global food policy and surveillance efforts are discussed.

Jealousy Mediates the Link Between Women's Upward Physical Appearance Comparison and Mate Retention Behavior.

Previous research has demonstrated that men's lower mate value predicts increased perpetration of mate retention, especially with respect to cost inflicting behaviors. It is less clear if lower mate value women, including those who perceive themselves as being less physically attractive than their intrasexual rivals, also perpetrate more mate retention. Moreover, it is presently unclear whether romantic jealousy, which has been proposed to motivate compensatory behavior in response to evidence that a valued mating relationship is threatened, might mediate this link. The present study addressed this gap in knowledge by examining whether women's overall self-perceived mate value and upward physical appearance comparisons predicted their cost inflicting and benefit provisioning mate retention, as well as whether jealousy mediated these relationships. In a sample of 167 heterosexual undergraduate women, results found self-perceived mate value predicted greater benefit provisioning mate retention, but not romantic jealousy. In contrast, jealousy mediated the relationship between women's upward physical appearance comparisons and both their cost-inflicting and benefit-provisioning mate retention, supporting the hypothesis that jealousy in the face of unfavorable social comparisons on important mate value traits can promote action aimed at retaining a mate.

Recovery and self-identity development following a first episode of psychosis

PurposeThe onset of psychosis typically develops during adolescence, a crucial period for beginning the transition from family to independence and developing a stable sense of self. Recovery amongst adolescents experiencing early onset psychosis has not yet been investigated with reference to its influence on self-identity. The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact living with early onset psychosis has on self-identity for adolescents in recovery.Design/methodology/approachA purposive sample of ten adolescents aged between 16 and 18 years from an Early Intervention Service in the Scottish National Health Service were recruited. All had experienced at least one episode of psychosis and were within three years of first contact with the service. Semi-structured interviews were adopted to capture adolescents’ perspectives concerning their experiences of recovery from psychosis and the impact on self-identity. All interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed and thematically analysed.FindingsQualitative analysis of adolescents’ accounts revealed how recovery from psychosis involves working with individual explanatory frameworks concerning uncertain identities and status ambiguity, a decrease in referent points and unfavourable social comparisons (emphasising loss, grief and self-criticism).Research limitations/implicationsSupporting adolescents experiencing early psychosis involves education, rebuilding relationships with self and others and providing access to psychotherapeutic interventions to aid self-identity development when needed.Originality/valueThe originality of this paper lies in the importance of identity, recovery, human reconnection, advocacy and community reintegration for adolescents experiencing psychosis. Public mental health campaigns to tackle the stigma surrounding psychosis are essential to assisting adolescents in developing their sense of self through their recovery journeys.

Факторная структура и психометрические показатели опросника перфекционизма: разработка трехфакторной версии

The paper presents the results of confirmatory factor analysis of the Perfectionism Inventory in the sample of 625 subjects (which included patients with affective spectrum disorders and healthy controls from the general population). Three factorial structure of the instrument has been identified: 1) perceived evaluations concerns along with unfavorable social comparisons; 2) high personal standards; 3) negative selectivity and imperfection concentration. The scales exhibit high internal con sistency. The results yield significant positive correlations between factors 1 and 3 and psychopathological symptoms (SCL-90-r). The Personal Standards subscale revealed no correlations with measures of psychopathological symptoms. Patients score higher on subscales 1 and 3 than the controls, whereas subscale 2 again didn’t show any differences. The results are discussed in the context of adaptive and maladaptive perfectionism dimensions.

Effects of achievement goals on perceptions of competence in conditions of unfavourable social comparisons: The mastery goal advantage effect.

Previous prospective studies have documented that mastery-approach goals are adaptive because they facilitate less negative psychological responses to unfavourable social comparisons than performance-approach goals. This study aimed to confirm this so-called 'mastery goal advantage' effect experimentally. A 2×3 design was adopted where achievement goals (mastery vs. performance) and normative information (favourable vs. no-normative information vs. unfavourable) were manipulated as between participant factors. Participants were 201 undergraduates, 57 males and 144 females, ranging in age from 17 to 55years (Mage =22.53, SD=6.51). Regression analyses pointed out that experimentally induced mastery-approach goals facilitated higher levels of competence and happiness with task performance than experimentally induced performance-approach goals in conditions of unfavourable social comparisons. In contrast, although performance-approach goals yielded the highest levels of happiness with task performance in conditions of favourable social comparisons, this positive effect of performance-approach goals did not extend to perceptions of competence. Current findings broaden understanding of the adaptive nature of mastery-approach goals and suggest that it is possible to modulate aversive responses to unfavourable social comparisons by focusing attention on mastery-approach goals.

The Impact of Shame, Self-Criticism and Social Rank on Eating Behaviours in Overweight and Obese Women Participating in a Weight Management Programme.

Recent research has suggested that obesity is a stigmatised condition. Concerns with personal inferiority (social rank), shame and self-criticism may impact on weight management behaviours. The current study examined associations between social comparison (shame, self-criticism), negative affect and eating behaviours in women attending a community based weight management programme focused on behaviour change. 2,236 participants of the programme completed an online survey using measures of shame, self-criticism, social comparison, and weight-related affect, which were adapted to specifically address eating behaviour, weight and body shape perceptions. Correlation analyses showed that shame, self-criticism and social comparison were associated with negative affect. All of these variables were related to eating regulation and weight control (p < 0.001). Path analysis revealed that the association of shame, hated-self, and low self-reassurance on disinhibition and susceptibility to hunger was fully mediated by weight-related negative affect, even when controlling for the effect of depressive symptoms (p < 0.050 to p < 0.010). In addition, feelings of inadequacy and unfavourable social comparisons were associated with higher disinhibition and susceptibility to hunger, partially mediated through weight-related negative affect (p = 0.001). These variables were negatively associated with extent of weight loss during programme attendance prior to the survey, while self-reassurance and positive social comparisons were positively associated with the extent of weight loss prior to the survey (p < .050). Shame, self-criticism, and perceptions of inferiority may play a significant role in self-regulation of eating behaviour in overweight people trying to manage their weight.