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Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Vol. 30, No. 4, 501-514 (2004)
DOI: 10.1177/0146167203261891
© 2004 Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc.

Appearance-Related Social Comparisons: The Role of Contingent Self-Esteem and Self-Perceptions of Attractiveness

Heather Patrick

Baylor College of Medicine, hpatrick{at}bcm.tmc.edu

Clayton Neighbors

North Dakota State University

C. Raymond Knee

University of Houston

Two studies examined contingent self-esteem (CSE) and responses to appearance-related social comparisons. Study 1 was an experimental study in which women rated a series of advertisements from popular women’s magazines. Study 2 employed an event-contingent diary recording procedure. In Study 1, women who were higher in CSE and lower in self-perceptions of attractiveness (SPA) experienced greater decreases in positive affect and greater increases in negative affect following the ad-rating task. Study 2 results supported a mediation model in which women who were higher in CSE felt worse after social comparisons because they made primarily upward comparisons. Overall, results suggest that appearance-related comparisons are more distressing for those who base their self-worth on contingencies and have lower self-perceived attractiveness.

Key Words: contingent self-esteem • social comparison


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