The idea for this book derives from a research project developed by a group of social psychologists from the Social and Cognitive Psychology Laboratory (LAPSCO-CNRS) of the Université Blaise Pascal in Clermont-Ferrand, France. It is a great pleasure for me to acknowledge the material and financial support received for this project from our laboratory and its staff, and from the ACI-Cognitique Program of the French Government in the form of a research grant. Most of the people that have contributed to this volume were associated with this project from very early on. Indeed, one of the stated objectives of the project was to develop research on social comparison processes through international collaborations. To this end, a first meeting was held in July 2002 in San Sebastian, Spain involving American, British, Belgian, Dutch, and French social psychologists, and a second meeting was held in Clermont-Ferrand in January 2004, involving American, Dutch, French, German, and Swiss social psychologists. These meetings provided unique opportunities to discuss theoretical and research issues, and these discussions were important to develop many ideas covered in this book.

I would like to thank all the contributors to this volume who have agreed to participate in this project. Their dedication and goodwill helped to turn hard work into nice times. I am grateful to Sandra Duarte and Magali Villate for their precious help during various phases of this project, to Jean-Léon Beauvois, Jean-Pierre Deconchy, Nicole Dubois, Gérard Lemaine, Jean-Marc Monteil, and Donald Taylor for inspiring discussions, and to Sarah Caro, Elizabeth Davey, and Laura Hemming from Cambridge University Press for their enthusiasm, professionalism, and support.