Social comparison bias is having feelings of dislike and competitiveness with

someone that is seen physically, or mentally better than yourself.

Contents [hide]
1 Introduction
2 Research
3 Cognitive effects
4 In the media
4.1 Through social media
5 Social comparison bias in the classroom
6 Conclusion
7 See also
8 References
Introduction[edit]
A majority of people in society base their moods and feelings on how well they are
doing compared to other people in their environment. Social comparison bias happens
in everyday society regularly. Social comparison bias can be defined as having
feelings of dislike and competitiveness with someone that is seen as physically or
mentally better than yourself.[1] This can be compared to social comparison, which
is believed to be central to achievement motivation, feelings of injustice,
depression, jealousy and people's willingness to remain in relationships or jobs.
[2][3] People often compete to get the best grades, the best jobs and the best
houses. In many situations, social comparison bias is fairly self-explanatory. For
example, you might make a comparison if you shop at low-end department stores and a
peer shops at the designer stores, and you are overcome with feelings of
resentment, anger and envy with that peer. This social comparison bias involves
wealth and social status. Some of us make social comparisons,[who?] but are largely
unaware of them.[4] In most cases, we try to compare ourselves to those in our peer
group or with whom we are similar.[5]
Research[edit]
There are many studies revolving around social comparison and the effects it has on
mental health. One study involved the relationship between depression and social
comparison.[6] Thwaites and Dagnan, in "Moderating variables in the relationship
between social comparison and depression", investigated the relationship between
social comparison and depression utilizing an evolutionary framework. Their
hypothesis was that depression was an outcome from social comparisons that people
carried out. This study investigated the moderating effects on social comparison of
the importance of comparison dimensions to the person, and of the perceived
importance of the dimensions to other people. What the researchers used to measure
the depression in their participants was a self-esteem test called the Self
Attributes Questionnaire created by Pelham and Swann in 1989. The test consisted of
10-point Likert scale ratings on 10 individual social comparison dimensions (e.g.
intelligence, social skills, sense of humor). "Questions were added to explore
beliefs regarding the importance of social comparison dimensions. Data were
collected from a combined clinical sample and non-clinical sample of 174
people."[6] They concluded that social comparison did have a relationship with
depression based on the data that they collected. More people that contributed in
social comparisons had a higher level of depression than people that rarely used
social comparison.
Cognitive effects[edit]
One major symptom that can occur with social comparison bias is the mental disorder
of depression. Depression is typically diagnosed during a clinical encounter using
the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders volume IV (DSM-IV)
criteria. Symptoms include depressed mood, hopelessness, and sleep difficulties,
including both hypersomnia and insomnia.[6] Clinical depression can be caused by
many factors in a person's life. Depression is the most common mental illness
associated to social comparison bias.[7] Depression has a biological explanation to
why people lose hope in life. It is caused by the brain because of the hippocampus
decreasing in size and the lowering levels of serotonin that circulates through the
brain.[8] Another negative symptom that is associated to social comparison bias is
suicide ideation. "Suicide ideation can be defined as the constant thoughts about
suicide and suicide attempts. Suicide is the taking of one's own life."[5] Suicide
ideation can occur due to social comparison bias because people that compare
themselves to people that are seen better than themselves get mentally discouraged
because they believe they can not perform or look a certain way which causes low
self-esteem. Low self-esteem is one of the main factors in suicide ideation.[1]
In the media[edit]
Mainstream media is also a main contributor to social comparisons.[9] Everywhere
one goes, advertisements try to portray to the public what beauty should be.
Magazines, commercials and billboards all show what beauty is supposed to look
like. When a growing generation of youth and adults see this, they socially compare
themselves to the advertisements they see all around them.[10] When they do not
look a certain way or weigh a certain amount, society puts them down for it. This
can cause low self-esteem and an onset of depression because they do not fit the
mold of what beauty is seen to be.[9] People get criticized when they do not look
like the models in the magazine or on TV. Socially comparing oneself to the people
in the media can have negative effects and cause mental anxiety, stress, negative
body image and eating disorders.[11] With media being such an important part of our
generation, having low self-esteems and negative self-images of ourselves effects
society with tragic incidents including suicide and self-harm. Social comparison to
others whether on TV and magazines can cause people to lose confidence in
themselves and stress over trying to be perfect and be what society expects them to
be. In an experiment that studied women's body image after comparing themselves to
different types of models, body image was significantly more negative after viewing
thin media images than after viewing images of either average-size models, or plus-
size models.[11] Media is one of the leading causes for bad body image among youth
and adults because of social comparison.[12]
Through social media[edit]
Social media being a main source of news and breaking new stories, people can
connect to people from all over the world and learn in new ways.[11] It is easier
to see people's private life on a public network. This being said, social networks
such as Facebook makes viewing someone's daily life as simple as sending a request.
Society is exposed to everyone's lives and people are starting to compare
themselves with their friends that they have on Facebook. It is easy to log in and
see someone brag about their success or their new belongings and feel bad about
yourself. In recent studies, researchers have been linking Facebook with depression
in this generation of social media.[11] They may start to have low self-esteem by
seeing their friends online have more exciting lives and more popularity. This
social comparison bias among social network users online can make people start to
think of their lives as not as fulfilling as they want to be. They see pictures or
statuses about job promotions or new jobs, vacations; new relationships, fun
outings or even those that can afford nice things. This can cognitively affect
people's self-esteem and cause depression.[13] They can start to feel bad about
their appearance and their life in general. Social media influences the number of
social comparisons people have.[14] One study found that the more time users spend
on Facebook each week, the more likely they are to think that others were happier
and having better lives than they themselves.[15]
Social comparison bias in the classroom[edit]
Social comparisons are also very important in the school system. Students depending
on their grade level are very competitive about the grades they receive compared to
their peers. Social comparisons not only influence students' self-concepts but also
improve their performance.[16] This social comparison process leads to a lower
self-concept when the class level is high and to a higher self-concept when the
class level is low.[16] Therefore, two students with equal performance in a domain
may develop different self-concepts when they belong to different classes with
different performance levels.[10] Social comparisons are important and valid
predictors of students' self-evaluations and achievement behavior. Students may
feel jealousy or competitiveness when it comes to grades and getting into better
colleges and universities than their peers. Social comparison can also motivate
students to do well because they want to keep along with their peers.
Conclusion[edit]
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Social comparison bias can occur in people's everyday life. Whether it is on social
networking sites, in the media, in society regarding wealth and social status or in
the school system. It can be negative to one's mental health due to the increasing
risks of depression, suicide ideation and other mental disorders.[17] Social
comparison in this generation is everywhere and society revolves around comparing
ourselves to each other if it is to have a higher self-esteem or to try and better
themselves as a whole. With social comparison being so important, it will lead to
social comparison bias and cause negative effects in a person's life. With the
research found, the hypothesis was proven correct stating that depression does has
a relationship with the social comparison that people in society participate in.