Handbook of Social Comparison

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xi

   PDF

2. Introduction

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1

      PDF

   2. A Selective History of Classic and Neo-Social Comparison Theory

      • Jerry Suls, Ladd Wheeler

      Pages 3-19

3. Foundations of Social Comparison

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 21-21

      PDF

   2. Interpreting and Inventing Social Reality

      • George R. Goethals, William M. P. Klein

      Pages 23-44

   3. Stability of Related Attributes and the Inference of Ability through Social Comparison

      • William P. Smith, Gudmundur B. Arnkelsson

      Pages 45-66

   4. “Can I Do X?”

      • René Martin

      Pages 67-80

   5. Social Comparison and Influence in Groups

      • Donelson R. Forsyth

      Pages 81-103

   6. Opinion Comparison

      • Jerry Suls

      Pages 105-122

   7. Self-Evaluation Maintenance and Evolution

      • Steven R. H. Beach, Abraham Tesser

      Pages 123-140

   8. Individual Differences in Social Comparison

      • Ladd Wheeler

      Pages 141-158

   9. Among the Better Ones

      • Rebecca L. Collins

      Pages 159-171

   10. Assimilative and Contrastive Emotional Reactions to Upward and Downward Social Comparisons

       • Richard H. Smith

       Pages 173-200

   11. Examining Social Comparisons with the Test Selection Measure

       • Joanne V. Wood

       Pages 201-222

   12. Social Comparison

       • Douglas H. Wedell, Allen Parducci

       Pages 223-252

   13. Consequences of Social Comparison

       • Thomas Mussweiler, Fritz Strack

       Pages 253-270

   14. Evaluating Social Comparison Targets

       • Mark D. Alicke

       Pages 271-293

   15. Social Comparison, Affiliation, and Emotional Contagion under Threat

       • James A. Kulik, Heike I. M. Mahler

       Pages 295-320

4. Related Social Phenomena

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 321-321

      PDF

   2. The Projective Perception of the Social World

      • Joachim Krueger

      Pages 323-351

Comparison of objects, events, and situations is integral to judgment; comparisons of the self with other people comprise one of the building blocks of human conduct and experience. After four decades of research, the topic of social comparison is more popular than ever. In this timely handbook a distinguished roster of researchers and theoreticians describe where the field has been since its development in the early 1950s and where it is likely to go next.

• Action
• Assimilation
• Emotion
• Evaluation
• Evolution
• Perception
• attribution

• University of Iowa, Iowa City, USA

  Jerry Suls

• University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia

  Ladd Wheeler

Policies and ethics