CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 851Emotions and Moral BehaviorAttachment and Relationship DynamicsSocial and Intergroup Psychology

The affective consequences of social comparison: Either direction has its ups and downs.

Buunk, Bram P., Collins, Rebecca L., Taylor, Shelley E., VanYperen, Nico W., Dakof, Gayle A.·1990·Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
DOI 10.1037/0022-3514.59.6.1238
Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

Research on social comparison processes has assumed that a comparison in a given direction (upward or downward) will lead to a particular affective reaction. In contrast, the present two studies proposed and found that a comparison can produce either positive or negative feelings about oneself, independent of its direction. Several factors moderated the tendency to derive positive or negative affect from upward and downward comparisons. In Study 1, cancer patients low in self-esteem and with low perceived control over their symptoms and illness were more likely to see downward comparisons as having negative implications for themselves. Those low in self-esteem were also more likely to perceive upward comparisons as negative. In Study 2, individuals with high marital dissatisfaction and those who felt uncertain about their marital relationship were more likely to experience negative affect from upward and downward comparisons. The implications of these findings for social comparison theory and for the coping and adaptation literature are discussed.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1037/0022-3514.59.6.1238

Cites

5 of 5 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

This paper’s full text isn’t openly available, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Downward social comparison generally boosts self-confidence and improves self-evaluation but may also induce negative affect, especially among those with low self-confidence.

    “Downward social comparison occurs when people compare themselves to those who are worse off and, in parallel, it generally boosts self-confidence and improves self-evaluation but may also induce negative affect, especially among those with low self-confidence (Buunk, Collins, Taylor, VanYperen, & Dakof, 1990).”

    From Relative Feedback Increases Disparities in Effort and Performance in Crowdsourcing Contests (2022) · cites this paper as Buunk, Collins, Taylor, VanYperen, & Dakof, 1990

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Buunk, B. P., Collins, R. L., Taylor, S. E., VanYperen, N. W., & Dakof, G. A.
Affiliations
  • Radboud University Nijmegen (NL)
  • University of British Columbia (CA)
  • University of California, Los Angeles (US)
ORCID
Collins, Rebecca L.
Venue
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
Publisher
American Psychological Association (APA)
Published
1990
Volume
59
Issue
6
Pages
1238-1249
ISSN
  • 0022-3514 (ISSN-L)
  • 1939-1315
DOI
10.1037/0022-3514.59.6.1238
OpenAlex
W2096397255
Cited by
851
References
5
Citations by year
2026: 23 · 2025: 26 · 2024: 30 · 2023: 36 · 2022: 31 · 2021: 34 · 2020: 40 · 2019: 31 · 2018: 37 · 2017: 33 · 2016: 27 · 2015: 26 · 2014: 30 · 2013: 24 · 2012: 26
FWCI
14.41
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
  • Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • University of Groningen research database (University of Groningen / Centre for Information Technology) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • National Institute of Mental Health (R01MH042258, MH 42258, MH 00311)
  • National Cancer Institute (CA-36409)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Emotions and Moral Behavior
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Attachment and Relationship Dynamics
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social and Intergroup Psychology
Keywords
social comparison, upward social comparison, downward social comparison, self-esteem, perceived control, cancer patients, marital dissatisfaction, relationship uncertainty, affective consequences, coping, adaptation
MeSH terms
Adaptation, Psychological, Adult, Affect, Aged, Arousal, Female, Humans, Internal-External Control, Male, Marriage, Middle Aged, Neoplasms, Self Concept, Sick Role, Social Desirability

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review