In face-to-face contexts, individuals typically make one social comparison per day and make more self-enhancing downward comparisons (to worse-off others) than potentially threatening upward comparisons (to better-off others). However, online social networks such as Facebook may be radically altering these standards. In two studies, I examined the frequency, direction, and impact of social comparisons on Facebook, and investigated potential moderating factors, including self-esteem. Participants reported making more upward than downward Facebook comparisons (Studies 1 and 2) and made an average of four comparisons in a 20-minute Facebook session (Study 2). Both low self-esteem and being motivated to log onto Facebook to get information with others predict making more comparisons on Facebook (Study 1) and participants with lower self-esteem may feel worse about themselves after making both upward and downward Facebook comparisons compared to their higher self-esteem peers (Study 2).

In face-to-face contexts, individuals typically make one social comparison per day and make more self-enhancing downward comparisons (to worse-off others) than potentially threatening upward comparisons (to better-off others). However, online social networks such as Facebook may be radically altering these standards. In two studies, I examined the frequency, direction, and impact of social comparisons on Facebook, and investigated potential moderating factors, including self-esteem. Participants reported making more upward than downward Facebook comparisons (Studies 1 and 2) and made an average of four comparisons in a 20-minute Facebook session (Study 2). Both low self-esteem and being motivated to log onto Facebook to get information with others predict making more comparisons on Facebook (Study 1) and participants with lower self-esteem may feel worse about themselves after making both upward and downward Facebook comparisons compared to their higher self-esteem peers (Study 2).

No description available.

Fear of negative evaluation by others has been a central construct in psychological research in social anxiety and social phobia. Fear of negative evaluation by others in individuals with social anxiety/phobia suggests that these individuals hold different beliefs about themselves and others, and about how others see them, than do people who do not experience fear of negative evaluation. This thesis will examine the role of beliefs about self and others in social anxiety/phobia; specifically, how people high and low on social anxiety/phobia evaluate themselves (private self-referent representations), how they believe they are evaluated by others (public self-referent representations) and how they evaluate other people (other-referent representations). Recent models of social anxiety/phobia have differed in the emphasis they place on these various representations of self and others. Five studies addressed this issue by assessing these representations in people high and low on social anxiety/phobia. Previous investigations of the above representations have mostly employed self-report measures, which suffer from serious limitations. The current research employs both self-report measures and performance-based measures to provide a picture of explicit and implicit beliefs or representations about self, about other people and about how people think they are viewed by others. It also assesses how these representations differ in relation to positive, as well as negative, cognitions

In exploring the role of social influences in the development of the self, the current study evaluated whether young adults use social comparisons in developing their hoped-for possible selves and, if so, whether their developmental process correlates with self-regulatory processes and positive mental health outcomes. The current study found the following: (1) the domains of hoped-for possible selves among young adults were related to the gender of the social comparison target, (2) the direction of young adults’ social comparison processes (upward or downward) did not significantly influence self-regulatory processes (self-efficacy and outcome expectancy) toward achieving their hoped-for possible selves, (3) strong masculine gender identification related to greater outcome expectancy, while strong feminine gender identification related to both greater self-efficacy and outcome expectancy, and (4) self-efficacy related to less state anxiety, trait anxiety, and depression, while outcome expectancy related only to less trait anxiety. Males and females were found to use traditional gender role identification in forming their hoped-for possible selves.

No description available.

Social and temporal comparison researchers to date have only looked at comparisons involving the self. The present investigation aims to extend comparison theory by examining social and temporal comparisons people make of others. Using movie reviews, the results support Festinger’s (1954) similarity hypothesis, such that lateral comparisons were more frequent than either upward or downward comparisons when the comparisons were social in nature. For temporal comparisons, on the other hand, there was no difference in the use of upward, downward, and lateral comparisons, which does not support Albert’s (1977) hypothesis that people are motivated to maintain a stable sense of self over time and should therefore prefer lateral comparisons over upward or downward comparisons. Implications about the use of between-individual comparisons as a way to expand comparison theory and the benefits of examining these types of comparisons for their own sake are discussed.

Social and temporal comparison researchers to date have only looked at comparisons involving the self. The present investigation aims to extend comparison theory by examining social and temporal comparisons people make of others. Using movie reviews, the results support Festinger’s (1954) similarity hypothesis, such that lateral comparisons were more frequent than either upward or downward comparisons when the comparisons were social in nature. For temporal comparisons, on the other hand, there was no difference in the use of upward, downward, and lateral comparisons, which does not support Albert’s (1977) hypothesis that people are motivated to maintain a stable sense of self over time and should therefore prefer lateral comparisons over upward or downward comparisons. Implications about the use of between-individual comparisons as a way to expand comparison theory and the benefits of examining these types of comparisons for their own sake are discussed.

No description available.

No description available.