Social Comparison Theory - Early Roots

• Newcomb (1947) - Bennington study - Reference Groups - negative and positive

• Schachter (1950) - Deviants and Communication• People communicate with deviants and bring

them in line - this works best in uniform groups

• Festinger (1954) Social Comparison Theory• Attitudes - we seek comparison with similar

others• Abilities - unidirectional push upwards

Social Comparisons Upward & Downward

• Brickman & Bulman (1977) - pleasure and pain of social comparison - the importance of the social context• Upward Comparisons are avoided because they

can be threatening• Downward comparisons can be sought out

because they can make one feel better--although sometimes they make one feel worse

• Wood, Taylor, & Lichtman (1985) - Social comparisons in adjustment to breast cancer - Most women made some sort of downward comparison

• Lockwood & Kunda (1997) - Inspiration and Social Comparison

Lockwood & Kunda (1997)

Relative Deprivation

• Merton & Kitt (1950) - the importance of reference groups

• Brickman, Coates, Janoff-Bulman• Whose Happy?

• Lottery Winners• Paraplegics