ABSTRACT
The previous chapter highlighted the role of groups and group stereotypes in evaluating the self. In this chapter, I will focus on a related, but distinct, standard against which we evaluate, appraise, and regulate the self: Other people. Social comparison theory ( Festinger, 1954a , b) is the main theoretical approach that will guide this review, and I will consider three broad topical areas that have been the focus of much research in social comparison: Comparison motives, choice of comparison target or direction of comparison, and consequences of comparison. The literature on social comparison is enormous—a recent PsycInfo search located over two thousand papers—and I am ill-equipped for a thorough review (for this, check out Suls & Wheeler, 2000, and the 2001 special issue of European Journal of Social Psychology edited by Buunk & Mussweiler). In keeping with the general theme of this book, I will focus on the fact that social comparison can be conceptualized as resulting in either assimilation or contrast effects— the self is drawn toward or away from comparison to others. Perhaps the most common theme in social comparison is contrast—by virtue of comparing ourselves to others, we see ourselves as better or worse than they are. But assimilation occurs under specifiable conditions as well.
