Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Evaluating Social Comparison Targets

  • Chapter
Handbook of Social Comparison

Part of the book series: The Springer Series in Social Clinical Psychology ((SSSC))

Abstract

Social comparison is the process by which people establish, maintain, refine, or embellish their self-concepts. The early history of social comparison research emphasized the comparisons people select to evaluate their abilities and opinions (Latane, 1966). In particular, this research assessed whether people preferred to elucidate their performance outcomes by comparing with superior or inferior others. The emphasis on comparison selections as opposed to comparison outcomes derived from Festinger’s (1954) conjecture that people evaluate their abilities by comparing with targets who are similar to themselves.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 189.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 249.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 219.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • Alicke, M. D. (1985). Global self-evaluation as determined by the desirability and controllability of trait adjectives. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 49, 1621–1630.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Alicke, M. D., Klotz, M. L., Breitenbecher, D. L., Yurak, T. J., & Vredenburg, D. S. (1995). Personal contact, individuation, and the better-than-average effect. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 68, 804–825.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Alicke, M. D., LoSchiavo, F. M., Zerbst, J. I., & Zhang, S. (1997). The person who outperforms me is a genius: Esteem maintenance in upward social comparison. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 73, 781–789.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Alicke, M. D., & Vredenburg, D. S. (1999). The better than myself effect. Unpublished manuscript.

    Google Scholar 

  • Allison, S. T., Messick, D. M., & Goethals, G. R. (1989). On being better but not smarter than others: The Muhammad Ali effect. Social Cognition, 7, 275–296.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Berglas, S., & Jones, E. E. (1978). Drug choice as a self-handicapping strategy in response to non-contingent success. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 36, 405–417.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bernstein, M., & Crosby, F. (1980). An empirical examination of relative deprivation theory. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 16, 442–456.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brewer, M. B., & Weber, J. G. (1994). Self-evaluation effects of interpersonal versus intergroup social comparisons Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 66, 268–2

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Brickman, P., & Bulman, R. J. (1977). Pleasure and pain in social comparison. In J. M. Suls & R. L. Miller (Eds.), Social comparison processes: Theoretical and empirical perspectives (pp. 149–186). Washington, DC: Hemisphere.

    Google Scholar 

  • Codol, J. P. (1975). On the so-called “superior conformity of the self” behavior: Twenty experimental investigation. European Journal of Social Psychology, 5, 457–501.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Collins, R. L. (1996). For better or worse: The impact of upward social comparison on self-evaluations. Psychological Bulletin, 119, 51–69.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crosby, F. (1976). A model of egoistic relative deprivation. Psychological Review, 83, 85–113.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dunning, D., Meyerowitz, J. A., & Holzberg, A. D. (1989). Ambiguity and self-evaluation: The role of idiosyncratic trait definitions in self-serving assessments of ability. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 57, 1082–1090.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ehrlich, H. J. (1973). The social psychology of prejudice. New York: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Feather, N. T. (1994). Attitudes toward high achievers and reactions to their fall: Theory and research concerning tall poppies. In M. P. Zanna (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 26, pp. 1–73). New York: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Festinger, L. (1954). A theory of social comparison processes. Human Relations, 7, 117–140.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gastorf, J. W., Suls, J., & Sanders, G. S. (1980). Type A coronary-prone behavior pattern and social facilitation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 38, 773–780.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gibbons, F. X., Persson, B., & Gerrard, M. (1994). From top dog to bottom half: Social comparison strategies in response to poor performance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 67, 638–652.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gilbert, D. T., Giesler, B. R., & Morris, K. A. (1995). When comparisons arise. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69, 227–236.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Goethals, G. R. (1986). Fabricating and ignoring social reality: Self-serving estimates of consensus. In J. M. Olson, C. P. Herman, & M. P. Zanna (Eds.), Relative deprivation and social comparison: The Ontario Symposium (Vol. 4, pp. 135–158). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goethals, G. R., & Darley, J. M. (1977). Social comparison theory: An attributional approach. In J. M. Suls & R. L. Miller (Eds.), Social comparison processes: Theoretical and empirical perspectives (pp. 259–278). Washington, DC: Hemisphere Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gould, R., Braunstein, P. J., & Sigall, H. (1977). Attributing ability to an opponent: Public aggrandizement and private denigration. Sociometry, 40, 254–261.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Higgins, R., Snyder, C. R., & Berglas, S. (1990). Self-handicapping: The paradox that isn’t. New York: Plenum Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jones, E. E., & Davis, K. E. (1965). From acts to dispositions: The attribution process in person perception. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 2, pp. 219–262). New York: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kelley, H. H. (1972). Causal schemata and the attribution process. In E. E. Jones, D. E. Kanouse, H. H. Kelley, R. E. Nisbett, S. Valins, & B. Weiner (Eds.), Attribution: Perceiving the causes of behavior (pp. 151–174). Morristown, NJ: General Learning Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kulik, J. A., & Gump, B. B. (1997). Affective reactions to social comparison: The effects of reactive performance and related attributes information about another person. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 23, 452–468.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Latane, B. (1966). Studies in social comparison—Introduction and overview. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 2(Suppl. 1), 1–5.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lockwood, P., & Kunda, Z. (1997). Superstars and me: Predicting the impact of role models on the self. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 73, 91–103.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Major, B., Sciacchitano, A., & Crocker, J. (1993). In-group versus out-group comparisons and self-esteem. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 19, 711–721.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Messick, D. M., Bloom, S., Boldizar, J. P., & Samuelson, C. D. (1985). Why we are fairer than others. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 21, 480–500.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mettee, D. R., & Smith, G. (1977). Social comparison and interpersonal attraction: The case for dissimilarity. In J. M. Suls & R. L. Miller (Eds.), Social comparison processes: Theoretical and empirical perspectives (pp. 69–101). Washington, DC: Hemisphere Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Miller, C. T. (1984). Self-schemas, gender, and social comparison: A clarification of the related attributes hypothesis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 46, 1222–1228.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Morse, S., & Gergen, K. J. (1970). Social comparison, self-consistency, and the concept of self. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 16, 148–156.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Murray, S. L. (2000). The quest for conviction? Motivated cognition in romantic relationships. Psychological Inquiry, 110, 502–510.

    Google Scholar 

  • Murray, S. L., & Hohnes, J. G. (1997). A leap of faith? Positive illusions in romantic relationships. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 23, 586–604.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Perloff, L. S. & Fetzer, B. K. (1986). Self-other judgments and perceived vulnerability to victimization. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 50, 502–510.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Raven, J. C. (1965). Advanced progressive matrices, sets I and II. London: Lewis.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reeder, G. D., & Brewer, M. B. (1979). A schematic model of dispositional attribution in interpersonal perception. Psychological Review, 86, 61–79.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Seta, J. (1982). The impact of comparison processes on coactors’ task performance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 42, 281–291.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith, R. H., Parrott, W. G., Ozer, D., & Moniz, A. (1994). Subjective injustice and inferiority as predictors of hostile and depressive feelings in envy. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 20, 705–711.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith, R. H., Turner, T. J., Garonzik, R., Leach, C. W., Druskat, & Weston, C. M. (1996). Envy and schadenfreude. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 22, 158–168.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Suls, J. M. (1977). Social comparison theory and research: An overview from 1954. In J. M. Suls & R. L. Miller (Eds.), Social comparison processes: Theoretical and empirical perspectives (pp. 1–19). Washington, DC: Hemisphere Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Suls, J. M. (1986). Notes on the occasion of social comparison theory’s thirtieth birthday. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 12, 289–296.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Suls, J. M., Gastorf, J., & Lawhon, J. (1978). Social comparison choices for evaluating a sex-and age-related ability. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 4, 102–105.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Suls, J. M., & Wan, C. K. (1987). In search of the false-uniqueness phenomenon: Fear and estimates of social consensus. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52, 211–217.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tesser, A. (1988). Toward a self-evaluation maintenance model of social behavior. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 21, pp. 181–227). New York: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tesser, A. (1991). Emotion in social comparison and reflection processes. In J. Suls & T. A. Wills (Eds.). Social comparison: Contemporary theory and research (pp. 115–145). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weinstein, N. D. (1980). Unrealistic optimism about future life events. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 39, 8–6-820.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weinstein, N. D. (1983). Reducing unrealistic optimism about illness susceptibility. Health Psychology, 2, 11–20.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weinstein, N. D., & Lachendro, E. (1982). Egocentrism as a source of unrealistic optimism. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 8, 195–200.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wheeler, L. (1966). Motivation as a determinant of upward comparison. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, Suppl. 1, 27–31.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wheeler, L., & Miyake, K. (1992). Social comparison in everyday life. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 62, 760–773.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wills, T. A. (1981). Downward comparision principles in social psychology. Psychological Bulletin, 90, 245–271.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wood, J. V. (1989). Theory and research concerning social comparisons of personal attributes. Psychological Bulletin, 106, 231–248.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wood, J. V., & Taylor, K. L. (1991). Serving self-relevant goals through social comparison. In J. Suls & T. A. Wills (Eds.), Social comparison: Contemporary theory and research (pp. 23–49). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wood, J. V., Taylor, S. E., & Lichtman, R. R. (1985). Social comparison in adjustment to breast cancer. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 49, 1169–1183.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ybema, J. F., & Buunk, B. P. (1993). Aiming at the top: Upward social comparison of abilities after failure. European Journal of Social Psychology, 23, 627–645.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ybema, J. F., & Buunk, B. P. (1995). Affective responses to social comparison of abilities after failure. British Journal of Social Psychology, 20, 277–288.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Ohio University, Athens, Ohio, 45701-2979, USA

    Mark D. Alicke

Authors
  1. Mark D. Alicke
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, USA

    Jerry Suls

  2. University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia

    Ladd Wheeler

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2000 Springer Science+Business Media New York

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Alicke, M.D. (2000). Evaluating Social Comparison Targets. In: Suls, J., Wheeler, L. (eds) Handbook of Social Comparison. The Springer Series in Social Clinical Psychology. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-4237-7_14

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-4237-7_14

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4613-6903-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4615-4237-7

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation