Lecture 6- Social Comparison

Question 1

Define social comparison theory? (why do we engage in social comparison)

Answer 1

We engage in social comparison when there is no objective standard for us to use as a way to measure or evaluate ourselves or when we wish to create an accurate image of ourselves by comparing ourselves to similar others.

Question 2

What are upwards social comparisons?

Answer 2

When we compare ourselves to someone who you perceive to be “better” than we are in a particular trait or ability. This can then be used to for self improvement or give us inspiration.

Question 3

How can upward social comparisons be unhelpful?

Answer 3

They can highlight our deficits and make us feel inadequate and thus cause negative self-evaluations

Question 4

Are upward social comparisons more related to future behaviour or our immediate affective state?

Answer 4

Our future behaviour

Question 5

What are downwards social comparisons?

Answer 5

When we compare ourselves to someone who we perceive as being “worse” than us. We do this when we feel threatened, in order to enhance our psychological well being and make us feel better about ourselves.

Question 6

Are upward social comparisons more related to future behaviour or our immediate affective state?

Answer 6

Immediate affective state

Question 7

What are four functions of social comparisons?

Answer 7

Increasing self knowledge, self enhancement, self improvement and social connection.

Question 8

How can social comparison benefit self knowledge?

Answer 8

By comparing ourselves to a target we have someone to evaluate ourselves by and therefore will feel less unsure about ourselves.

Question 9

What is the proxy model for social comparisons?

Answer 9

We evaluate how successful we can be in a task by comparing ourselves to those who performed similarly in a task, with the person putting in maximal effort. Looking at their success/failure can give us predictions about how well we would do in the task.

Question 10

How can social comparison cause self enhancement?

Answer 10

We will perform downward social comparisons with people who are worse off than us to boost our sense of well-being. However, the opposite occurs in Upward Assimilation Theory

Question 11

Define Upward Assimilation Theory?

Answer 11

Where people have higher self-evaluations of themselves when there is a benevolently perceived comparison target that they have high perceived similarity to

Question 12

How can social comparison cause self improvement?

Answer 12

People compare themselves in order to learn new skills and improve their performance. This is usually an upward social comparison and is consistent with the idea of modelling in Bandura’s social learning theory.

Question 13

How can social comparison aid social connection?

Answer 13

It can help build social connection with others, i.e. by sharing experiences.

Question 14

When does assimilation occur in social comparison (3 possible occasions)

(bear in mind, this can occur for both upwards and downwards social comparisons)

Answer 14

If we believe we could be like the perceived target
If we perceive a degree of physical or psychological closeness with the target
If we have attributes that are similar to those of the comparison target

Question 15

When do contrasts occur in social comparison? (2 possible occasions)

Answer 15

When there is an absence of psychological closeness
When the attributes that the target shares with you are not that relevant/important to us (i.e. if you both like the colour blue)

Question 16

How can social comparison affect our eating behaviour?

Answer 16

If we are eating with others, comparing our food to theirs can affect both how much we like our food and how much of it we eat. For instance if we have contrasting downward comparison with someone else in terms of food (we see their meal as different and less “good” than ours), this can cause us to eat more of our meal.

Question 17

What did Policy et al suggest about social comparison in relation to food?

Answer 17

He suggested that the way social comparison effects eating has an evolutionary perspective. This relates to our ancestors who had more food having higher social status

Question 18

How can social media relate to unflattering social comparison?

Answer 18

Facebook and other sites are designed to give mainly positive self-portrayals. This allows for more unflattering social comparisons.

Question 19

How can self esteem affect how we use social comparisons via social media?

Answer 19

Those who use social media and have low self esteem tend to use it with the motivation for self-enhancement (making themselves feel better about themselves). Those with high self esteem tend to use social media with the motivation of self improvement.