Comparative Thinking: Applications and Extensions of Social Comparison

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Comparative ThinkingApplications and Extensions
of Social Comparison
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Social Comparison Health

• Affiliation
• Emotional comparison (Schacter)
• Cognitive clarity (Kulik Mahler, 1997)
• Downward evaluation and upward contacts. (Taylor
  Lobel, 1989)

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Body Image

• Widening gender differences over past 30 years.
• Large discrepancy between womens actual and
  ideal body size.
• Actual average is 54 and 163 lbs
• Ideal average is 5 7 and 110 lbs
• This is an international problem

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Sociocultural Theory

• Sociocultural theorythe more people are exposed
  to the medias representation of the ideal body,
  the less favorably they evaluate their own body.

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Social Comparison and Body Image

• Moderators
• Internalization
• Pre-existing weight concerns
• Self-Esteem

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Self-Esteem Attractiveness Comparisons (Jones
Buckingham, 2005).

• 120 Female participants pre-tested on SE
• Exposed to USC, DSC, or no photo
• Rated body esteem

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Self-Esteem Attractiveness Comparisons (Jones
Buckingham, 2005).

• Main effects of Self-Esteem on
• Affect
• Internalization
• Conditions of Self-Worth (Appearance and Approval
  scales)
• Body Esteem

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Self-Esteem Attractiveness Comparisons (Jones
Buckingham, 2005).
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Temporal comparison

• Comparisons with ones own past standing or
  against ones imagined future standing.

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Reconstructing the Past to Serve The Self

• Perceiving that weve improved (Ross Wilson).
• Biased memory retrieval
• SAT study (Shepperd, 1993)
• Introversion/extraversion study (Sanitioso)

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Counterfactual Thinking

• The tendency to imagine alternative events or
  outcomes that could have occurred, but did not.
• Upward vs. downward counterfactuals.