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Frequent Social Comparisons and Destructive Emotions and Behaviors: The Dark Side of Social Comparisons
Abstract
Social comparisons may seem to serve several positive functions, including self-enhancement. Frequent social comparisons, however, have a dark side. Two studies examined the relationship between frequent social comparisons and destructive emotions and behaviors. In Study 1, people who said they made frequent social comparisons were more likely to experience envy, guilt, regret, and defensiveness, and to lie, blame others, and to have unmet cravings. In Study 2, police officers who said they made frequent social comparisons were more likely to show ingroup bias and to be less satisfied with their jobs. The dark side of frequent social comparisons was not associated with self-esteem. Results are discussed in terms of the role of individual differences in social comparison processes.
... On the one hand, selfesteem has been conceptualized as an antecedent of dispositional envy, as low self-esteem might increase a person's vulnerability to experiencing envy (Salovey & Rodin, 1984;Silver & Sabini, 1978). This notion is underpinned by previous research that has shown that people with low self-esteem are particularly prone to engaging in (upward) social comparisons (Gibbons & Buunk, 1999;Wayment & Taylor, 1995), which are a precondition for the experience of envy (Fiske, 2010;Smith et al., 1999;van de Ven & Zeelenberg, 2020;White et al., 2006). Further supporting this notion, a study with a South Korean sample found that low self-esteem prospectively predicted young women's envy of social media influencers, a relationship that was partially mediated by the frequency of social comparisons with influencers (Chae, 2018; see also Appel et al., 2015;. ...
... Similarly, the prospective effects of self-esteem on dispositional envy found in the present study might be mediated by changes in social comparison orientation (i.e., the trait-like tendency to engage in social comparison with others). It has been shown by previous research that individuals with low self-esteem are particularly prone to making upward comparisons (Gibbons & Buunk, 1999;Wayment & Taylor, 1995) and that upward comparisons lead to envy (Alicke & Zell, 2008;White et al., 2006). Therefore, decreases in a person's level of self-esteem might make that person more likely to engage in upward comparisons, thereby making that person more susceptible to envy. ...
... Workplace envy is an unpleasant emotion experienced universally when one compares themselves unfavourably to someone or a group with a better position in a meaningful area (Navarro-Carrillo et al., 2017). This emotion can lead to self-esteem issues, shame, and depression (Duffy et al., 2021;Vrabel et al., 2018;Yu et al., 2018), negative comparisons (White et al., 2006), and aggressive behaviour (Li et al., 2021). Such negative outcomes can cause the envious person to feel inadequate and low in self-worth and experience persistent negativity and dissatisfaction (Thompson et al., 2016). ...
... There is some evidence that individuals tend to prioritize social over temporal comparison (Van Yperen & Leander, 2014;White et al., 2006), and empirical work indicates that social comparison has a stronger influence on self-evaluations than temporal comparison (Zell & Strickhouser, 2020). Yet, temporal comparisons are as frequently reported as social comparisons (Wilson & Shanahan, 2020). ...
Studying for exams can be a stressful time. Uncertainty and stress often reach their peak during exam preparation, as students frequently grapple with feelings of inadequacy and anxiety regarding their academic performance. To assess their exam readiness, students can use social, temporal, criteria-based, and counterfactual comparisons. Engaging in upward comparative thinking during exam preparation may increase students’ stress levels. However, previous studies have not examined whether students’ daily comparisons related to exam preparation are associated with their stress, negative mood, and learning behavior. Therefore, we used Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) to capture daily frequency and affective impact of upward comparisons and their influence on stress, negative mood, and self-reported learning behavior among 170 psychology students at a German University. During an eleven-day EMA-phase leading up to exams, participants completed brief surveys three times daily, supplemented by baseline and follow-up assessments. Multilevel models revealed that both between-person and within-person upward comparison frequency correlated positively with stress and negative mood over time. A more negative comparison affective impact mediated the within-person associations of comparison frequency with stress and negative mood. A more negative comparison affective impact also predicted more self-reported avoidant learning behavior, both between-person and within-person. Comparison also influenced depression, test anxiety, and burnout at follow-up. The findings may have implications for designing well-being interventions during periods of performance-related pressure.
The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between self-esteem and body image, but also the moderating role of social media use on the relationship between self-esteem and body image. A number of 166 people, aged between 18 and 80, M = 26.39, SD = 11.13, participated in this research, of which 19 were male, 145 were female, and two participants declared that they belonged to another gender. The materials used were: Rosenberg’s Self-Esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1965), The Body Appreciation Scale-2 (Tylka & Wood-Barcalow, 2015) and The Facebook Intensity Scale (Ellison et al., 2007). The results showed that self-esteem is a significant predictor of body image and social media use does not moderate the relationship between self-esteem and body image.
Instagram has a very high number of monthly-active users that is more than 400 million, the number of shared faces is around 80 million and nearly about 3.5 likes daily. A high percentage of people post their lives on Instagram so that they can be viewed, seen and admired. This causes people to judge, comment and at times try to copy what they see on Instagram. Thus this comparing causes "mental health issues, anxiety, depression, lowered self-esteem and social-comparison". As social media, Instagram, has become most important part of every individual especially among youth. It is important to study and analyze the impact that it brings among youth and culture it imparts. Instagram have grown rapidly in past few years. Its effects are yet unclear whether it is creating a sense of social-comparison among people and leading to mental health issues. The main idea of carrying out this study is to look for the effect of Instagram usage among individual, social depression/anxiety and comparing themselves with others. We have used the basics of social-comparison theory and Five-system model. We carried out a online-survey for this study (N=404). The whole set of data was transferred to SPSS software of Instagram users. The recent studies affirms and proves that the high usage of social platforms has major consequences as it leads to anxiety, stress and various health related issues. To lower the bad effects the research shows the role that self-esteem and social-comparison can play. The people with high self-esteem and tends to be less effected by social media usage. Thus proposes that to higher self-esteem could be used improve the social-comparison developed among youth. The research is aimed to find whether Instagram usage is leading youth towards social comparisons and to identify the correlation between factors, i.e. mental health and social comparison caused by Instagram usage. Also, it has been observed that social-comparison can cause mental health issues and colorism. As per studies nearly 88% of youth are engaged in social comparisons caused by Instagram and most of these are suffering with upward-comparison. Moreover, this research study suggests that there is a strong relation between Instagram usage and social comparison, causing mental health issues i.e social anxiety and depression. Instagram usage appeared to influence the psychological health of individual, the individuals with more usage faced higher mental issues and with high self-esteem the social comparison effect showed a change. The relationship between Instagram usage and social-comparison was studied and it regulated to extent as it created the direct relation among the users."
The state of financial well-being plays a significant role in influencing an individual's overall well-being and satisfaction with life. However, only a few studies summarize the research in this field despite the importance and increase in studies on the topic. To address this issue, this article presents an in-depth systematic review of the literature on financial well-being, highlighting its publication trends, influential factors, underlying theoretical frameworks, diverse measures, varying definitions and conceptualizations. Through an intensive content analysis, this review encapsulates the evolution of research trends and identifies the important factors that affect the perception of financial well-being. It has been concluded from this review that financial well-being is a complex phenomenon influenced by a number of interrelated sociodemographic, economic, financial, and psychological factors. This review provides key insights and critical findings, giving a panoramic view of financial well-being and paves the way for future research. This article concludes with thought-provoking implications for future research directions, laying the groundwork for researchers to delve deeper into uncharted territories and emphasizing the need for continued exploration of financial well-being from diverse angles.
The purpose of this article is to investigate the effect of organizational trauma on social attrition with the mediating roles of comparative sadness and silent envy. The descriptive research method is of the correlational type and the statistical population was all the full-time faculty members of the University of Sistan and Baluchistan in the academic year 1401-1402, of which 212 of them were randomly selected through social wear questionnaires (Duffy et al., 2012), injury Organizational spirit (Vivan and Horman, 2015), social comparison orientation (Ahmadi Qozlojeh and Mehdizadeh Tovasani, 2018) and jealousy (Valizadeh and Azarbaijani, 2019) have been studied. For data analysis, Pearson's correlation coefficient and structural equation model were used with the help of SmartPls software. Based on the findings, there is a positive and significant relationship between organizational trauma, social burnout, comparative sadness, and silent jealousy, and the direct effect of organizational trauma on social burnout, the indirect effect of organizational burnout on social burnout with the mediating role of comparison grief, and the indirect effect of organizational burnout It was positive and significant on social wear with the mediating role of silent jealousy. Therefore, organizational managers can reduce discrimination and injustice, organizational support, emphasize transparency, honesty and organizational trust, pay attention to collaborative management, pay attention to human interactions and conflicts, expand ethics in the workplace, create a meritocracy system, and reduce unhealthy competition in the organization. Provide the conditions to reduce negative phenomena such as organizational trauma, comparison grief, social wear and organizational envy.
Notes that explanations of human behavior have generally favored unidirectional causal models emphasizing either environmental or internal determinants of behavior. In social learning theory, causal processes are conceptualized in terms of reciprocal determinism. Viewed from this perspective, psychological functioning involves a continuous reciprocal interaction between behavioral, cognitive, and environmental influences. The major controversies between unidirectional and reciprocal models of human behavior center on the issue of self influences. A self system within the framework of social learning theory comprises cognitive structures and subfunctions for perceiving, evaluating, and regulating behavior, not a psychic agent that controls action. The influential role of the self system in reciprocal determinism is documented through a reciprocal analysis of self-regulatory processes. Reciprocal determinism is proposed as a basic analytic principle for analyzing psychosocial phenomena at the level of intrapersonal development, interpersonal transactions, and interactive functioning of organizational and social systems. (62 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
It was hypothesized that women are more vulnerable to depressive symptoms than men because they are more likely to experience chronic negative circumstances (or strain), to have a low sense of mastery, and to engage in ruminative coping. The hypotheses were tested in a 2-wave study of approximately 1,100 community-based adults who were 25 to 75 years old. Chronic strain, low mastery, and rumination were each more common in women than in men and mediated the gender difference in depressive symptoms. Rumination amplified the effects of mastery and, to some extent, chronic strain on depressive symptoms. In addition, chronic strain and rumination had reciprocal effects on each other over time, and low mastery also contributed to more rumination. Finally, depressive symptoms contributed to more rumination and less mastery over time.
Three conceptual models of self-defeating behavior can be distinguished on the basis of intentionality (desiring and foreseeing harm). In primary self-destruction, the person foresees and desires harm to self; in tradeoffs, the harm is foreseen but not desired; and in counterproductive strategies, the harm is neither foreseen nor desired. We review 12 categories of self-defeating behavior patterns from the research literature in social psychology. No clear evidence of primary self-destruction is found. Several tradeoff patterns have been shown: Typically, the individual favors short-term benefits despite long-term costs and risks, especially under the influence of aversive emotional states and high self-awareness. Counterproductive strategies have also been found, usually based on misjudging self or misjudging contingencies. It is concluded that normal people do harm themselves and defeat their projects by means of poor judgments, by maladaptive responses, through unforeseen consequences of nonoptimal methods, and by disregarding costs and risks in favor of immediate pleasure or relief; however, there is no clear evidence of intentional, deliberate self-destructiveness among normal (nonclinical) individuals.
Over and over, investigators have found self-esteem to be central in a broad network of constructs associated with motivation, performance, and well-being. Esteeming oneself—thinking well of oneself—has often been found to relate to more effective behavior and better adjustment than has low self-regard.
Organizational Identity presents the classic works on organizational identity alongside more current thinking on the issues. Ranging from theoretical contributions to empirical studies, the readings in this volume address the key issues of organizational identity, and show how these issues have developed through contributions from such diverse fields of study as sociology, psychology, management studies and cultural studies. The readings examine questions such as how organizations understand who they are, why organizations develop a sense of identity and belonging where the boundaries of identity lie and the implications of postmodern and critical theories' challenges to the concept of identity as deeply-rooted and authentic. Includes work by: Stuart Albert, Mats Alvesson, Blake E. Ashforth, Marilynn B. Brewer, George Cheney, Lars Thoger Christensen, C.H. Cooley, Kevin G. Corley, Barbara Czarniawska, Janet M. Dukerich, Jane E. Dutton, Kimberly D. Elsbach, Wendi Gardner, Linda E. Ginzela, Dennis A. Gioia, E. Goffman, Karen Golden-Biddle, Mary Jo Hatch, Roderick M. Kramer, Fred Rael, G.H. Mead, Michael G. Pratt, Anat Rafaeli, Hayagreeva Rao, Majken Schultz, Howard S. Schwartz, Robert I. Sutton, Henri Taijfel, John Turner, David A. Wherren, and Hugh Willmott. Intended to provide easy access to this material for students of organizational identity, it will also be of interest more broadly to students of business, sociology and psychology.
This article examines the association between evaluative and knowledge components of the self. Four studies tested the hypothesis that the self-concepts of low-self-esteem (LSE) people are characterized by less clarity or certainty than those of high-self-esteem (HSE) people. LSE Ss exhibited less extremity and self-reported confidence when rating themselves on bipolar trait adjectives (Study 1), less temporal stability in their trait ratings over a 2-month interval (Study 2), less congruence between their self-concepts and their subsequent perceptions of situation-specific behavior and memory for prior behavior (Study 3), and less internal consistency, lower self-rated confidence, and longer reaction times when making me/not me responses to pairs of opposite traits (Study 4). Alternative accounts of the results and the implications of self-concept clarity for understanding the pervasive impact of self-esteem on behavior are discussed.
A self-comparison scale was devised to assess positive self-comparisons by asking 167 women and 158 men to compare themselves with others of their age on five personal strengths using a scale ranging from 0 to 100 (50 = average). Factor analysis of the self-comparison scale identified one factor with acceptable internal and test-retest reliability. The median self-comparison score was 72, indicating that most participants viewed themselves as being "above average." The relation between self-comparison scores and measures of well-being was linear. Self-comparison scores contributed significant variance over social desirability, big five personality factors, and coping style in predicting three measures of well-being. The best predictor of self-comparison scores was the Hope Scale. Social desirability and eschewal of emotion coping also contributed significant variance in predicting self-comparison scores.