Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- List of contributors
- Preface
- Introduction: social comparison processes and levels of analysis
- Part 1 Cognition: comparison processes within and between individuals
- Part 2 Intergroup relations: comparison processes within and between groups
- 5 Predicting comparison choices in intergroup settings: a new look
- 6 The variable impact of upward and downward social comparisons on self-esteem: when the level of analysis matters
- 7 Attitudes toward redistributive social policies: the effects of social comparisons and policy experience
- 8 Social comparison and group-based emotions
- 9 The counter-intuitive effect of relative gratification on intergroup attitudes: ecological validity, moderators and mediators
- 10 Social comparison and the personal group discrimination discrepancy
- Part 3 Culture: comparison processes within and across cultures
- Author index
- Subject index
- References
6 - The variable impact of upward and downward social comparisons on self-esteem: when the level of analysis matters
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 27 October 2009
Edited by
Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- List of contributors
- Preface
- Introduction: social comparison processes and levels of analysis
- Part 1 Cognition: comparison processes within and between individuals
- Part 2 Intergroup relations: comparison processes within and between groups
- 5 Predicting comparison choices in intergroup settings: a new look
- 6 The variable impact of upward and downward social comparisons on self-esteem: when the level of analysis matters
- 7 Attitudes toward redistributive social policies: the effects of social comparisons and policy experience
- 8 Social comparison and group-based emotions
- 9 The counter-intuitive effect of relative gratification on intergroup attitudes: ecological validity, moderators and mediators
- 10 Social comparison and the personal group discrimination discrepancy
- Part 3 Culture: comparison processes within and across cultures
- Author index
- Subject index
- References
Summary
One of the main concerns stemming directly from research related to Festinger's theory of social comparison processes (1954) involves understanding the relations between upward comparisons, downward comparisons, and self-esteem (e.g., Blanton, 2001). Do we feel better about ourselves when we compare with more successful others (upward comparison), or when we compare with less successful others (downward comparison), and why? Given the crucial role played by self-esteem in social adaptation and cognitive functioning (e.g., Greenberg, Solomon, Pyszcynski, Rosenblatt, Burling, Lyon, Simon, and Pinel, 1992; Steele, 1988; Taylor and Brown, 1988; Tesser and Campbell, 1983), the striking determination and persistence that researchers have shown in studying this issue is readily understood (for reviews see Part One, this volume; Markman and McMullen, 2003; Mussweiler, 2003). It is much less obvious, however, why, up until quite recently, most of this research was designed without taking into consideration the level of analysis at which social comparisons occur.
Some thirty years ago, Tajfel (1972, 1974) and Turner (1975), suggested that social comparisons could take place at the individual level as in Festinger's theory, but also at the group level. Furthermore, as shown in Social Identity Theory (Tajfel and Turner, 1979), social comparisons at the group level are likely to have a significant bearing on self-esteem (see Long and Spears, 1997). Therefore, taking into account the level of analysis immediately raises new questions about the impact of social comparison on self-esteem.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Social Comparison and Social PsychologyUnderstanding Cognition, Intergroup Relations, and Culture, pp. 127 - 150Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2005
References
(2003). The essential difference: The truth about the male and female brain. New York, NY: Basic Books, Inc.Google Scholar
(1994). Group identification and self-esteem of deaf adults. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 20, 494–502.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blanton, H. (2001). Evaluating the self in the context of another: The three-selves model of social comparison assimilation and contrast. In (ed.), Cognitive social psychology: The Princeton Symposium on the legacy and future of social cognition (pp. 75–87). Mahway, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
, , and (2000). The effects of in-group versus out-group social comparison on self-esteem in the context of a negative stereotype. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 36, 519–530.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, and (1999). Perceived discrimination among African-Americans: Attributions, group identification, and consequences for well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 77, 135–149.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(1991). The social self: On being the same and different at the same time. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 17, 475–482.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
and (1994). Self-evaluation effects of interpersonal versus intergroup social comparison. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 6, 268–275.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brickman, P. and Bulman, R. J. (1977). Pleasure and pain in social comparison. In and (eds.), Social comparison processes: Theoretical and empirical perspectives on the self (pp. 149–186). Washington, DC: Haslted / Wiley.Google Scholar
(1996). For better or worse: The impact of upward social comparison on self-evaluations. Psychological Bulletin, 119, 51–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Collins, R. L.(2000). Among the better ones: Upward assimilation in social comparison. In and (eds.), Handbook of social comparison (pp. 159–172). New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
and (1989). Social stigma and self-esteem: The self-protective properties of stigma. Psychological Review, 96, 608–630.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crocker, J., Major, B., and Steele, C. (1998). Social stigma. In , , and (eds.), The handbook of social psychology (4th edn.) (pp. 504–553), Boston: McGraw Hill.Google Scholar
(1988). Individual and social identities in intergroup relations. European Journal of Social Psychology, 18, 99–112.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, , , , and (1988). The relationship of social power to visual displays of dominance between men and women. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54, 233–242.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fiske, S. and Stevens L. (1993). What's so special about sex? Gender stereotyping and discrimination. In and (eds.), Gender issues in social psychology (pp. 173–196). Newburry Park, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
(1993). Controlling other people: The impact of power on stereotyping. American Psychologist, 48, 621–628.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
, , and (2002). When you and I are “we,” you are no longer threatening: The role of self-expansion in social comparison processes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 82, 239–251.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, , , , , , , and (1992). Why do people need self-esteem? Converging evidence that self-esteem serves an anxiety-buffering function, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 63, 913–922.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
, , , and (2001). Rebels with a cause: Group identification as a response to perceived discrimination from the mainstream. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
and (1994). The role of stereotyping in system justification and the production of false consciousness. British Journal of Social Psychology, 33, 1–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
and (1995). Perceived in-group homogeneity as a function of group membership salience and stereotype threat. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 21, 610–619.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
and (1997). Superstars and me: Predicting the impact of role models on the self. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 73, 91–103.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Long, K. and Spears, R. (1997). The self-esteem hypothesis revisited: Differentiation and the disaffected. In , , , and (eds.), The social psychology of stereotyping and group life (pp. 296–317). Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
(1988). Individus dominants et groupes dominés. Images masculines et féminines. Grenoble: Presses Universitaires de Grenoble.Google Scholar
(1993). They all look alike, but so do we … sometimes: Perceptions of ingroup and outgroup homogeneity as a function of sex and context. British Journal of Social Psychology, 32, 111–124.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(1984). Social comparison in high- and low-status groups. Journal of Cross Cultural Psychology, 15, 379–398.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Major, B. (1994). From social inequality to personal entitlement: The role of social comparisons, legitimacy appraisals, and group membership. In (ed.), Advances in Experimental Social Experimental (Vol. XXVI, pp. 293–348). San Diego: Academic Press.Google Scholar
and (1985). Social comparisons and pay evaluations: Preferences for same-sex and same-job wage comparisons. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 21, 393–405.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, , and (1993). Ingroup vs. outgroup comparisons and self-esteem. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 09, 711–721.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, , and (1991). Comparison and expectancy processes in human judgment. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 61, 203–211.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
and (2003). A reflection and evaluation model of comparative thinking. Personality and Social Psychologicy Review, 7, 244–267.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
and (2002). Impact of upward comparisons with outgroup members on self-esteem in an asymmetrical intergroup comparison context. Psychologica Belgica, 42, 131–149.Google Scholar
and (2003). Impact of comparisons with outgroup members on women's self-esteem: role of the stereotypical connotation of the performance context. International Journal of Psychology, 38, 348–358.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, , , and (2002). Ingroup vs. outgroup comparisons and self-esteem: the role of group status and ingroup identification. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 28, 1586–1600.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McGuire, W. J. and McGuire, C. V. (1988). Content and process in the experience of self. In (ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. XX, pp. 97–144). New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Merton, R. K. and Kitt, A. (1950). Contributions to the theory of reference group behavior. In and (eds.), Continuities in social research: Studies in the scope and method of “The American soldier” (pp. 40–105). New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Miller, D. T. and Prentice, D. A. (1996). The construction of social norms and standards. In and , Social psychology: Handbook of basic principles (pp. 799–829). New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
, , and (1988). Particularistic and universalistic evaluation in the social comparison process. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 55, 908–917.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
and (1970). Social comparison, self-consistency, and the concept of self. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 16, 148–156.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(2003). ‘Everything is relative’: Comparison processes in social judgment. The 2002 Jaspars Lecture. European Journal of Social Psychology, 33, 719–734.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
and (2002). I know you are, but what am I? Self-evaluative consequences of judging in-group and out-group members. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 82, 19–32.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
and (2001). Assimilation and differentiation needs as motivational determinants of perceived in-group and out-group homogeneity. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 37, 341–348.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, , and (2002). The impact of assimilation and differentiation needs on perceived group importance and judgments of ingroup size. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 28, 546–558.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Redersdorff, S. (2002). Stratégies de protection de l'estime de soi dans un contexte de comparaison intergroupe: une approche expérimentale du rôle du statut du groupe. Unpublished Doctoral dissertation, Laboratoire de Psychologie Sociale et Cognitive, Université Blaise Pascal, Clermont-Ferrand.
and (2003). Impact des comparaisons ascendantes et descendantes sur l'estime de soi: importance de l'identité mise en jeu. L'Année Psychologique, 104, 411–444.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Redersdorff, S. and Martinot, D.(2004). Identification and perception of target group informativeness as a way to protect self-esteem in an intergroup comparative context. 6th European Social Cognition Network Meeting, Lisboa, 8–11th September.
, , and (2004). The impact of thinking about group-based disadvantages or advantages on women's well-being: An experimental test of the rejection-identification model. Cahiers de Psychologie Cognitive/Current Psychology of Cognition, 22, 203–222.Google Scholar
, , and (2000). The intersection of self-evaluation maintenance and social identity theories: Intragroup judgment in interpersonal and intergroup contexts. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 26, 1598–1606.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
and (1996). Big fish in small ponds: A social hierarchy analysis of intergroup biais. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 71, 1210–1221.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
and (1999). Social dominance: An intergroup theory of social hierarchy and oppression. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, , , , , and (1997). Perceived consensus, uniqueness, and terror management: Compensatory responses to threats to inclusion and distinctiveness following mortality salience. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 23, 1055–1065.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
and (2004). Group membership and everyday social comparison experiences. European Journal of Social Psychology, 34, 297–309.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
and (2001). I, we, and the effects of others on me: How self-construal level moderates social comparison effects. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 80, 766–781.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Steele, C. (1988). The psychology of self-affirmation: Sustaining the integrity of the self. In (ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. XXI, 181–227), New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
, , and (1979). Evaluating a sex-related ability: Comparison with same-, opposite-, and combined-sex norms. Journal of Research in Personality, 13, 294–304.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
and (eds.) (1977). Social comparison processes: Theoretical and empirical perspectives. Washington, DC: Halsted-Wiley.Google Scholar
Tajfel, H. (1972). La catégorisation sociale. In (ed.), Introduction à la psychologie sociale (pp. 272–302). Paris: Larousse.Google Scholar
(1974). Social identity and intergroup behavior. Social Science Information, 13, 65–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tajfel, H. and Turner, J. C. (1979). An integrative theory of intergroup conflict. In and (eds.), The social psychology of intergroup relations (pp. 33–48). Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole.Google Scholar
Tajfel, H. and Turner, J. C.(1986). The social identity theory of intergroup behavior. In and (eds.), Psychology of intergroup relations (pp. 33–48). Chicago: Nelson-Hall.Google Scholar
and (1988). Illusion and well-being: A social psychological perspective on mental health, Psychological Bulletin, 103, 193–210.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tesser, A. (1986). Some effects of self-evaluation maintenance on cognition and action. In and (eds.), Handbook of motivation and cognition: Foundations of social behavior (pp. 435–464). New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Tesser, A.(1988). Toward a self-evaluation maintenance model of social behavior. In (ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology, (Vol. II, pp. 1–31). Hillsdale, NJ: ErlbaumGoogle Scholar
Tesser, A. and Campbell, J. (1983). Self-definition and self-evaluation maintenance. In et (eds.), Social psychological perspectives on the self (Vol. II, 1–31), Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
and (2001). Ingroup identification as the inclusion of ingroup in the self. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 27, 585–600.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(1975). Social comparison and social identity: Some prospects for intergroup behaviour. European Journal of Social Psychology, 5, 5–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(1989). Theory and research concerning social comparison of personal attributes. Psychological Bulletin, 106, 231–248.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- 6
- Cited by