Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin

 

Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

Free Access - Register Here

Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Request Reprints
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Wood, J. V.
Right arrow Articles by Ducharme, M. J.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow Articles by Wood, J. V.
Right arrow Articles by Ducharme, M. J.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati  
What's this?
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Vol. 25, No. 11, 1370-1386 (1999)
DOI: 10.1177/0146167299259004

Compensating for Failure through Social Comparison

Joanne V. Wood

University of Waterloo, jwood{at}watarts.uwaterloo.ca

Maria Giordano-Beech

University of Waterloo

Mary Jo Ducharme

University of Waterloo

Three studies tested the hypothesis that the motive to compensate—to cast favorable light on the self after a threat to self-esteem—can lead people to seek social comparisons. Participants were high self-esteem undergraduates. In Experiment 1, participants who had failed sought more comparisons when they were allowed to compare on their strongest attributes than when they were allowed to compare on their weakest attributes. In Experiment 2, participants had a choice between comparing on a coparticipant’s "superior" or "average" dimension. Success participants selected the other’s strength for comparison, whereas failure participants selected the other’s relative weakness. In Experiment 3, failure participants were less likely to seek comparisons if they had already compensated via a self-affirmation task. These studies employed novel or rarely used measures of social comparison, and the results have implications for both the social comparison and self-esteem literatures.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Health Educ ResHome page
A. Krayer, D. K. Ingledew, and R. Iphofen
Social comparison and body image in adolescence: a grounded theory approach
Health Educ. Res., December 20, 2007; (2007) cym076v1.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Pers Soc Psychol BullHome page
S. A. Schwinghammer, D. A. Stapel, and H. Blanton
Different Selves Have Different Effects: Self-Activation and Defensive Social Comparison
Pers Soc Psychol Bull, January 1, 2006; 32(1): 27 - 39.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 Pers Soc Psychol BullHome page
H. Zagefka and R. Brown
Comparisons and Perceived Deprivation in Ethnic Minority Settings
Pers Soc Psychol Bull, April 1, 2005; 31(4): 467 - 482.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 Pers Soc Psychol RevHome page
A. Tesser
On the Confluence of Self-Esteem Maintenance Mechanisms
Personality and Social Psychology Review, November 1, 2000; 4(4): 290 - 299.
[Abstract] [PDF]