scholarly journals Social Comparison Orientation in Monozygotic and Dizygotic Twins

2017 ◽  
Vol 20 (6) ◽  
pp. 550-557 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pascal Huguet ◽  
Michèle Carlier ◽  
Conor V. Dolan ◽  
Eco J. de Geus ◽  
Dorret I. Boomsma
Keyword(s):  
Social Comparison ◽  
Genetic Variance ◽  
Direct Evidence ◽  
Additive Genetic Variance ◽  
Comparison Standard ◽  
Large Effect Size ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Comparison Orientation ◽  
Mz Twins ◽  
Twin Resemblance

Twin research has offered evidence that monozygotic (MZ) twins are more socially close than dizygotic (DZ) twins, but has not paid much attention to the way twins compare themselves with their co-twin. The few studies in this area suggest that ‘horizontal comparisons’ (social comparison motivated by solidarity or communion with others) matter more for MZ twins than for DZ twins, at least when the co-twin is the social comparison standard. Consistent with this view, we predicted higher interest in MZ twins relative to DZ twins to select their co-twin rather than other people in general as the social comparison standard. The Social Comparison Orientation (SCO) scale, which measures the inclination to compare with others in a horizontal rather than vertical mode (comparing either upward or downward), was administered in 90 MZ pairs and 57 same-sex DZ pairs (63% female; average age 18.06 years) from the Netherlands Twin Register. MZ twin pairs showed significantly higher SCO scores than DZ twin pairs (with a large effect size) on the co-twin SCO, whereas the two groups did not differ from each other on the general SCO excluding the co-twin as social comparison standard. In MZ twin pairs, anxiety was associated with social comparison with others in general, not with their co-twin. For both scales, twin resemblance was explained by additive genetic variance. The present findings provide direct evidence that horizontal comparisons with the co-twin are of particular importance for MZ twins.

Social comparison orientation and mental health: The mediating role of psychological capital

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guoliang Yang ◽  
Zhihua Wang ◽  
Weijiong Wu
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Social Comparison ◽  
Psychological Capital ◽  
Mediating Effect ◽  
Mediating Role ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Comparison Orientation ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

Little is known about the relationship between social comparison orientation and mental health, especially in the psychological capital context. We proposed a theoretical model to examine the impact of ability- and opinion-based social comparison orientation on mental health using data from 304 undergraduates. We also examined the mediating effect of the four psychological capital components of hope, self-efficacy, resilience, and optimism in the relationship between social comparison orientation and mental health. Results show that an ability (vs. opinion) social comparison orientation was negatively (vs. positively) related to the psychological capital components. Further, the resilience and optimism components of psychological capital fully mediated the social comparison orientation–mental health relationship. Our findings indicate that psychological capital should be considered in the promotion of mental health, and that the two social comparison orientation types have opposite effects on psychological capital.

Social Loafing and the Group-Evaluation Effect: Effect of Dissimilarity in a Social-Comparison Standard

1996 ◽  
Vol 78 (1) ◽  
pp. 177-178 ◽  
Author(s):  
James E. Waller
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Social Comparison ◽  
Group Performance ◽  
Social Loafing ◽  
Comparison Standard ◽  
Group Evaluation ◽  
The Social

Group performance of 52 college students was motivated simply by the potential for group evaluation, regardless of the similarity or dissimilarity of persons comprising the social-comparison standard.

Social Support, Social Comparison, and Career Adaptability: A Moderated Mediation Model

2015 ◽  
Vol 43 (4) ◽  
pp. 649-659 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhongming Wang ◽  
Ying Fu
Keyword(s):  
Social Support ◽  
Social Comparison ◽  
Self Efficacy ◽  
College Graduates ◽  
Career Adaptability ◽  
Mediation Model ◽  
Mediating Role ◽  
Moderated Mediation Model ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Comparison Orientation

Our aim in this study was to identify the social factors that underpin the career adaptability of college graduates in China by examining the effects of social support and career self-efficacy on career adaptability among a sample of 879 Chinese college graduates. We also emphasized the moderating role of social comparison in influencing this relationship. The results showed that, (a) social support enhanced career adaptability, (b) career self-efficacy played a mediating role in the relationship between social support and career adaptability, and (c) social comparison orientation moderated the mediation model; specifically, a high social comparison orientation weakened the enhancing effect of social support on career self-efficacy and career adaptability. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

scholarly journals Increasing saving intentions through leaderboards: A gamification approach

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. e0249283
Author(s):  
Yi Zhang ◽  
Femke van Horen ◽  
Marcel Zeelenberg
Keyword(s):  
Social Comparison ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Comparison Standard ◽  
Orientation Study ◽  
Financial Saving ◽  
Lower Standard ◽  
Social Comparison Orientation ◽  
New Strategy ◽  
Implement Strategy

Saving money is important but challenging. To spur financial saving intentions, we propose a new strategy—gamification. Specifically, we investigate the effectiveness of competitive leaderboards in increasing individuals’ saving intentions. The results of two studies (total N = 618) show consistently that people’s saving intentions are higher when presented with a leaderboard than when not. Further, as leaderboards elicit social comparison, we explore whether the height of the comparison standard and individuals’ social comparison orientation moderate the effect. We find that the effect of leaderboards on saving intentions is more pronounced when people compare with a higher (as compared to a lower) standard (Study 1), but that the effect is not influenced by individuals’ social comparison orientation (Study 2). Taken together, this research provides a new and simple-to-implement strategy to facilitate saving intentions in order to help improve people’s financial well-being.

Epistemic and relational conflicts in sharing identical vs. complementary information during cooperative learning

2002 ◽  
Vol 61 (3) ◽  
pp. 139-151 ◽  
Author(s):  
Céline Darnon ◽  
Céline Buchs ◽  
Fabrizio Butera
Keyword(s):  
Cooperative Learning ◽  
Social Comparison ◽  
Positive Relationship ◽  
Learning Task ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Complementary Information ◽  
Relational Conflict ◽  
The Social ◽  
The University

When interacting on a learning task, which is typical of several academic situations, individuals may experience two different motives: Understanding the problem, or showing their competences. When a conflict (confrontation of divergent propositions) emerges from this interaction, it can be solved either in an epistemic way (focused on the task) or in a relational way (focused on the social comparison of competences). The latter is believed to be detrimental for learning. Moreover, research on cooperative learning shows that when they share identical information, partners are led to compare to each other, and are less encouraged to cooperate than when they share complementary information. An epistemic vs. relational conflict vs. no conflict was provoked in dyads composed by a participant and a confederate, working either on identical or on complementary information (N = 122). Results showed that, if relational and epistemic conflicts both entailed more perceived interactions and divergence than the control group, only relational conflict entailed more perceived comparison activities and a less positive relationship than the control group. Epistemic conflict resulted in a more positive perceived relationship than the control group. As far as performance is concerned, relational conflict led to a worse learning than epistemic conflict, and - after a delay - than the control group. An interaction between the two variables on delayed performance showed that epistemic and relational conflicts were different only when working with complementary information. This study shows the importance of the quality of relationship when sharing information during cooperative learning, a crucial factor to be taken into account when planning educational settings at the university.

Envy and Social Comparison

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Niels van de Ven ◽  
Marcel Zeelenberg
Keyword(s):  
Social Comparison ◽  
Social Comparisons ◽  
Past Work ◽  
Good Fortune ◽  
Malicious Envy ◽  
The Social ◽  
Upward Social Comparison

Upward social comparison can give rise to the emotion of envy: the pain caused by the good fortune of others. We explain what envy is, and what the possible function of envy is to an organism experiencing it. We provide an overview of past work on envy, the distinction between two subtypes (benign and malicious envy), possible antecedents of envy, possible consequences of envy, and the responses to being envied by others. In each of these areas there are clear links to research on social comparison, and research on envy has greatly benefitted from insights from the social comparison literature. Given the surge in research on envy in the last decade, we hope that the findings on envy can also inspire those investigating social comparisons.

Identity Status, Gender, and Social Comparison among Young Adults

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fanny Gyberg ◽  
Ann Frisén
Keyword(s):  
Gender Differences ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Social Comparison ◽  
Young Adulthood ◽  
Identity Status ◽  
Adult Women ◽  
Global Identity ◽  
Identity Statuses ◽  
Social Comparison Orientation ◽  
And Diffusion

The aim of this study was to investigate identity status globally and across identity domains among young Swedish adult women and men. Also, potential differences in social comparison between identity statuses were evaluated. The results showed that most of the 124 participants (50% women, Mage 33.29 years) were assigned to an achieved global identity and had made identity-defining commitments across domains. Gender differences in identity status were found in the occupational and parenthood domains. In addition, differences in social comparison orientation were found only in the parenthood domain, whereas those assigned to moratorium scored higher in social comparison than did those assigned to foreclosure and diffusion. These results bring important knowledge to our understanding of identity during young adulthood.

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