The Effects of Social Comparison on Life Satisfaction
The Effects of Social Comparison on Life Satisfaction
Abstract
The study was carried out to explore the effects of social comparison on life satisfaction. Although the results were not statistically significant enough to prove that downward social comparison led to higher life satisfaction than upward social comparison, a second study was proposed to make amendments to the limitations of the first study. Some amendments include increasing the effect of the manipulation on the participants and choosing a different sampling method to better represent the population. The new study hopes to yield better results that are statistically significant pertaining to the effects of social comparison on life satisfaction.
Keywords: social comparison, life satisfaction
The Effects of Social Comparison on Life Satisfaction
Social comparison theory is a framework for understanding how individuals form self-perceptions and direct their behaviors (Festinger, 1954). Three fundamental human motives determine the kind of social comparison. When people are interested in an accurate self-assessment, they seek to compare with similar others, resulting in lateral social comparison. When people are motivated for self-improvement, they seek to compare with others better than them, resulting in upward social comparison. When people are facing threats to their well-being, they seek to compare with less fortunate others, resulting in downward social comparison (Wheeler, 2000).
Life satisfaction is an individual’s cognitive appraisal of the quality of one's life (Huebner, Suldo, Smith, & McKnight, 2004). Regarded as the most stable aspect of subjective well-being (Diener, Lucas, & Oishi, 2002), life satisfaction judgments can refer to either global satisfaction or satisfaction with the important domains of an individual’s life (Seligson, Huebner, & Valois, 2003).
In this study, we are specifically interested in
Abstract
The study was carried out to explore the effects of social comparison on life satisfaction. Although the results were not statistically significant enough to prove that downward social comparison led to higher life satisfaction than upward social comparison, a second study was proposed to make amendments to the limitations of the first study. Some amendments include increasing the effect of the manipulation on the participants and choosing a different sampling method to better represent the population. The new study hopes to yield better results that are statistically significant pertaining to the effects of social comparison on life satisfaction.
Keywords: social comparison, life satisfaction
The Effects of Social Comparison on Life Satisfaction
Social comparison theory is a framework for understanding how individuals form self-perceptions and direct their behaviors (Festinger, 1954). Three fundamental human motives determine the kind of social comparison. When people are interested in an accurate self-assessment, they seek to compare with similar others, resulting in lateral social comparison. When people are motivated for self-improvement, they seek to compare with others better than them, resulting in upward social comparison. When people are facing threats to their well-being, they seek to compare with less fortunate others, resulting in downward social comparison (Wheeler, 2000).
Life satisfaction is an individual’s cognitive appraisal of the quality of one's life (Huebner, Suldo, Smith, & McKnight, 2004). Regarded as the most stable aspect of subjective well-being (Diener, Lucas, & Oishi, 2002), life satisfaction judgments can refer to either global satisfaction or satisfaction with the important domains of an individual’s life (Seligson, Huebner, & Valois, 2003).
In this study, we are specifically interested in