What is Social Comparison and How Should We Study it?

Abstract

Despite renewed vigor in the social comparison literature, little attention has been paid to methods of studying social comparison. This article examines frequently used measures and procedures in social comparison research. The question of whether a method truly captures social comparison requires a clear understanding of what social comparison is; hence a definition of social comparison is proposed, multiple ancillary processes in social comparison are identified, and definitional controversies are addressed. Then, methods are examined for how strongly they imply social comparison and for whether they capture social comparisons as they would occur naturally. It is argued that some methods may not truly capture social comparison, that some methods may be too vulnerable to alternative interpretations to be useful, and that some methods may paint an inaccurate picture of social comparison.