The present study focuses on social comparison processes among cancer patients. The sample consisted of 60 (ex-) cancer patients who participated in a course "coping with cancer". This study examined several aspects of social comparison: the need for comparison, the preferred direction of comparison and the influence of mode (information or contact seeking) and dimension (illness severity or co...

Eating is a social activity for most people. Other people influence what and how much an individual chooses and eats. Such social influence on eating has long been recognized and studied, but we contend here that one important social influence factor, social comparison, has been largely overlooked by researchers. We review the literature on comparing oneself to others on eating and weight-relat...

this paper aimed to investigate the relationship between components of social capital (security, trust, social norms, social networks and participation in social activities) and physical activity participation among the adolescent students in yazd city. the statistical population of the study included adolescent students (14-17 years old) from yazd city. 382 adolescents were randomly selected t...

The present analysis introduces the N-Effect – the discovery that increasing the number of competitors (N) can decrease competitive motivation. Studies 1a-b found evidence that average test scores (e.g., SAT scores) fall as the average number of test-takers at testtaking venues increases. Study 2 found that individuals trying to finish an easy quiz among the top 20 percent in terms of speed fin...

While leaderboards are a key gamification element incorporated in fitness apps to spur competition among users, various issues exist in their use. Yet, the impact of leaderboards and the social comparison they entail in these apps is under-studied and not well understood. Motivated thus, we build a theoretical model to explain their impact on the attitude and physical activity behavior of users...

Negative talk about food, weight, or the body that occurs commonly among women--fat talk--is gaining increasing attention. Whereas its negative eating pathology and body esteem correlates have received continued empirical validation, what is not yet known is who is most likely to fat talk. We propose that social comparison processes underlie and motivate much of fat talk. In a sample of 143 col...

It has been speculated that the big-fish-little-pond effect (BFLPE; the negative impact of highly selective academic settings on academic self-concept) is a consequence of invidious social comparisons experienced in higher ability schools. However, the direct role of such comparisons for the BFLPE has not heretofore been documented. The present study comprises the first evidence that the BFLPE ...

This study investigates the relationships among sociocultural pressures to be thin, internalisation of the thin ideal, social comparison, body mass index, and body dissatisfaction in young girls. One hundred and fifty-three 10-13 year old girls completed measures assessing sociocultural pressure to be thin, media exposure, body dissatisfaction, social comparison, and internalisation of the thin...

This research examined the effects of appearance-based comparisons to muscular and slender idealized male bodies and the contribution of internalization and social comparison to change in body dissatisfaction. Participants were 111 male undergraduates who completed measures of body dissatisfaction, internalization, and social comparison and viewed images of either muscular or slender men in adv...

This study examined the associations among self-concept clarity, thin-ideal internalization, appearance-related social comparison tendencies, and body dissatisfaction. Female university students (N=278) completed self-report measures of these constructs. Structural equation modeling revealed several key findings: (a) thin-ideal internalization mediated the link between appearance-related social...