Social Comparison Processes in Health and Illness

Comparison for Chinese subordinates as a motivation approach: Scale Development and Psychometric Properties

“…For example, Wood, Taylor and Lichtman (1985) reported that most female breast cancer patients felt much better when downward comparing with other worse-off victims. The similar finding was evidenced in a considerable body of research about downward social comparison among populations facing a health threat and mentally handicapped, such as those with cancer (van der Zee, Agterberg, Peeters, Mooi & Schellekens, 1996), arthritis (Giorgino, Blaloc, Devellis, DeVellis, Keefe & Jordan, 1994), chronic pain (Affleck, Tennen, Pfeiffer, Fifield & Rowe, 1987;Tennen, McKee & Affleck, 2000) and stress (Gibbons & Boren, 1985). Embedded in this approach is the assumption that upward comparison is the opposite of downward comparison.…”

Psicologia Social da Justiça: Fundamentos e desenvolvimentos teóricos e empíricos

“…Por exemplo, as mulheres com estatuto profissional mais elevado reconhecem a situação de desvantagem profissional das mulheres como grupo, mas negam que essa situação de desvantagem as afecte a elas próprias (Crosby, 1982(Crosby, , 1984. Finalmente, a escolha dos referentes de comparação pode ser um componente importante dos procedimentos terapêuticos já que tem consequências para o bem-estar das pessoas (Tennen, McKee, & Affleck, 2000).…”

Social Comparison and Perceived Breach of Psychological Contract: Their Effects on Burnout in a Multigroup Analysis

“…The direction of the comparison has been the main object of these works, focusing on whether individuals tend to compare themselves with those who are worse off than they are (downward comparison) or with those who are better off (upward comparison). Studies with various populations that experience threats, either from the perspective of health, such as patients with rheumatoid arthritis, cancer, infertility, and chronic pain (for a review, see Tennen, McKee, & Affleck, 2000), or from the perspective of work, such as health staff in psychiatric institutions, professional military staff, nurses, and teachers (Buunk & Ybema, 1997Buunk, Ybema, Gibbons, & Ipenburg, 2001;Buunk, Ybema, Van der Zee, Schaufeli, & Gibbons, 2001), have shown that downward comparisons are more frequent and that the perception of being better off than one's peers seems to be related to subjective well-being.…”