Looking up and Seeing Green

Abstract

Psychological research documents the extent to which physical appearance comparisons are associated with negative emotional experiences, but researchers typically study physical appearance comparisons isolated from other comparison experiences. As part of a signal-contingent experience sampling design, 87 female undergraduate students recorded whether they had made any comparison about any topic after they received a text message at three randomly chosen times a day for 7 days. In contrast to other comparisons, physical appearance comparisons were more likely to be upward contrasts to dissimilar targets associated with increased envy, less inspiration, less pride, and less anxiety. Women who reported more demographically similar close friends reported more envy following physical appearance comparisons in contrast to women who reported more demographically diverse close friends. Women who associated their body with a better quality of life reported more inspiration and less envy following physical appearance comparisons. More demographically diverse close friends and a more positive body image may protect women from the negative emotional consequences associated with physical appearance comparisons. These data indicate that the positive benefits for interpersonal judgments associated with close cross-group friends extend to intrapersonal reactions to physical appearance comparisons.

The painful duality of envy: Evidence for an integrative theory and a meta-analysis on the relation of envy and schadenfreude.

“…Envy is the pain following an upward comparison (Cohen-Charash & Larson, 2016, 2017Tai et al, 2012 Operationalization II Emulation (Brody, Hay, & Vandewater, 1990;Feather & Nairn, 2005;Feather & Sherman, 2002;Lim & Yang, 2015) Operationalization III Inferiority, Resentment (Demirtas, Hannah, Gok, Arslan, & Capar, 2015;Duffy et al, 2012;Duffy & Shaw, 2000;Eissa & Wyland, 2016;Kim, O'Neill, & Cho, 2010;Krasnova, Widjaja, Buxmann, Wenninger, & Benbasat, 2015;McKee et al, 2013;Vecchio, 2005Vecchio, , 2000 Operationalization IV Inferiority, Frustration (Fischer, Kastenmüller, Frey, & Peus, 2009) Operationalization V Inferiority, Emulation (Van Dijk et al, 2006;Van Dijk, Ouwerkerk, Wesseling, & Van Koningsbruggen, 2011) Operationalization VI Desire, Emulation (Hareli & Weiner, 2002) Operationalization VII Inferiority, Hostility, Resentment (Brigham, Kelso, Jackson, & Smith, 1997 Note. N = 282.…”

Personal Relative Deprivation and Mental Health Among University Students: Cross-sectional and Longitudinal Evidence

“…Although we cannot rule out this possibility with these data, social comparison researchers demonstrate the extent to which comparison direction (upward or downward) and either contrasting or assimilating the comparison target into one's reference group determines people's emotional reactions to the comparison (Buunk & Ybema, 1997;Leach, Snider, & Iyer, 2002). Upward assimilative comparisons are associated with inspiration, downward contrasts are associated with relief (among other emotions) and upward contrasts are associated with anger and resentment (Buunk & Ybema, 1997;Leach et al, 2002;McKee et al, 2013). Further, the resentment and frustration associated with PRD is different from general assessments of one's social status in the larger community (Callan et al, 2015).…”

Personal Relative Deprivation and Mental Health Among University Students: Cross‐sectional and Longitudinal Evidence

“…Although we cannot rule out this possibility with these data, social comparison researchers demonstrate the extent to which comparison direction (upward or downward) and either contrasting or assimilating themselves with the comparison target determines people's emotional reactions to the comparison (Buunk & Ybema, 1997;Leach, Snider, & Iyer, 2002). Upward assimilative comparisons are associated with inspiration, downward contrasts are associated with relief (among other emotions), and upward contrasts are associated with anger and resentment (Buunk & Ybema, 1997;Leach et al, 2002;McKee et al, 2013). Further, the resentment and frustration associated with PRD is different from general assessments of one's social status in the larger community (Callan et al, 2015).…”