Social Comparison as a Factor of Subjective Well-Being

Social Comparison as a Factor of Subjective Well-Being


Savchenko T.N.

Cand. Sci. (Psychol.), Leading researcher, Institute of Psychology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia SavchenkoTN@ipran.ru

Samoylenko E.S.

Dr. Sci. (Psychol.), Head of the laboratory, Institute of Psychology of RAS, Moscow, Russia SamoylenkoES@ipran.ru

ID of the Article: 9366


This research was carried out in accordance with the State Task No. 0138-2022-0007.


For citation:

Savchenko T.N., Samoylenko E.S. Social Comparison as a Factor of Subjective Well-Being. Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya [Sociological Studies]. 2022. No 11. P. 74-85




Abstract

The ideas of subjective well-being in sociology and psychology are discussed, and its comparison with such close concepts as subjective quality of life and psychological well-being is carried out. It is shown that of particular interest is the study of this relationship in the context of social comparison in social networks, which provide their users with a variety of opportunities to exchange information about each other. At the same time, the analysis of studies of the influence of “upward” and “downward” online comparison on the level of subjective and psychological well-being, as well as intermediate variables mediating this influence, is of particular importance.


Keywords
subjective well-being; psychological well-being; subjective quality of life; social comparison

References

Almakaeva A.M., Gashenina N.V. (2020) Subjective WellBeing: Conceptualization, Assessment and Russian Specifics. Monitoring obshchestvennogo mneniya: Ekonomicheskie i social’nye peremeny [Monitoring of Public Opinion: Eco no mic and Social Changes]. No. 1: 4–13. DOI: 10.14515/monitoring.2020.1.01. (In Russ.)

Bárcena-Martín E., Cortés-Aguilar A., Moro-Egido A.I. Social comparisons on Subjective Well-Being: The Role of Social and Cultural Capital // J. Happiness Stud. 2017. Vol. 18. No. 4. P. 1121–1145.

Batenburg A., Das E. (2015) Virtual support communities and psychological well-being: The role of optimistic and pessimistic social comparison strategies. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication. Vol. 20. No. 6: 585–600. DOI: 10.1111/jcc4.12131.

Benko E.V. (2016) Psychodiagnostics of the structure of subjective well-being. In: Online magazine “World of Science”. Vol. 4. No. 4. http://mir-nauki.com/PDF/03PSMN416.pdf (In Russ.)

Bradburn N.M. (1969) The structure of psychological Well-being. Chicago: Aldine.

Buunk B.P., Collins R.L., Taylor S.E., VanYperen N.W., Dakof G.A. (1990) The affective consequences of social comparison: either direction has its ups and downs. Journal of personality and social psychology. Vol. 59. No. 6: 1238.

Buunk B.P., Ybema J.F. (1997) Social comparisons and occupational stress: The identification-contrast model. In: Health, coping, and well-being: Perspectives from social comparison theory: 359–388.

Carrieri V. (2012) Social Comparison and Subjective Well-Being: Does the Health of Others Matter? Bulletin of economic research. Vol. 64. No. 1: 31–55.

Davydova E.E., Davydova A.A. (1993) Measuring the quality of life. Moscow: RAS, Institute of Sociology. (In Russ.)

Diener E., Lucas R.E., Oishi S. (2018) Advances and Open Questions in the Science of Subjective Well-Being. Collabra. Psychology. Vol. 4. No. 1: 15. DOI: 10.1525/collabra.115.

Diener E., Suh E.M., Lucas R.E., Smith H.L. (1999) Subjective well-being: Three decades of progress. Psychological Bulletin. Vol. 125. No. 2: 276–302. DOI: 10.1037//0033–2909.125.2.276.

Festinger L.A. (1954) Theory of social comparison processes. Human relations. Vol. 7. No. 2: 117–140. DOI: 10.1177/001872675400700202.

Gerson J., Plagnol A.C., Philip J. Corr. (2016) Subjective well-being and social media use: Do personality traits moderate the impact of social comparison on Facebook? Computers in Human Behavior. Vol. 63: 813–822. DOI: 10.1016/j.chb.2016.06.023.

Haferkamp N., Krämer N.C. (2011) Social comparison 2.0: Examining the effects of online profiles on social networking sites. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking. Vol. 14. No. 5: 309–314. DOI: 10.1089/cyber.2010.0120.

Hanna E., Ward L.M., Seabrook R.C., Jerald M., Reed L., Giaccardi S., Lippman J.R. (2017) Contributions of social comparison and self-objectification in mediating associations between Facebook use and emergent adults’ psychological well-being. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social networking. Vol. 20. No. 3. DOI: 10.1089/cyber.2016.0247.

Kang S., Chung W.J., Mora A.R., Chung Y.K. (2013) Facebook comparisons among adolescents: How do identification and contrast relate to wellbeing? Asian Journal of Information and Communications. Vol. 5. No. 2: 1–21.

Kleinke C.L., Miller W.F. (1998) How comparing oneself favorably with others relates to well-being. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology. Vol. 17. No. 1: 107–123. DOI: 10.1521/jscp.1998.17.1.107.

Kraus M.W. (2018) Beggars do not envy millionaires: Social comparison, socioeconomic status, and subjective well-being. In: Handbook of well-being / Ed. by E. Diener, S. Oishi, L. Tay. Salt Lake City, UT: DEF Publishers: 1–10.

Kuchenkova A.V., Tatarova G.G. (2019) “The stage of the life cycle” as a determinant of the subjective well-being of the individual. Sotsiologicheskie Issledovaniya [Sociological Studies]. No. 8: 30–43. DOI: 10.31857/S013216250006135-1. (In Russ.)

Kulikov K.V. (2000) Health and subjective well-being of the individual. In: Health Psychology / Ed. G.S. Nikiforov. St. Petersburg: St. Petersburg State University: 405–442. (In Russ.)

Lysukho A.S. (2020) Review of Russian research on the topic “Social well-being”: basic research and results. In: INAB. Information and Analytical Bulletin: Subjective and objective well-being in modern Russian society: results of an empirical study. No. 1: 7–18. (In Russ.)

McCardle J.G., Speck S.A. (2019) Comparative Study of Social Comparison, Materialism, and Subjective Well-Being in the U. S., China, Croatia, and India. Journal of Business Diversity. Vol. 19. No. 5: 68–87. DOI: 10.33423/jbd.v19i5.2646.

Papura A.A. (2014) Category “quality of life” in psychological research. In: Applied psychology and psychoanalysis: electron. Scientific journal. No. 3. URL: http://ppip.idnk.ru (accessed 03.04.2019). (In Russ.)

Park S.Y., Baek Y.M. (2018) Two faces of social comparison on Facebook: The interplay between social comparison orientation, emotions, and psychological well-being. Computers in Human Behavior. Vol. 79: 83–93.

Pavot W. (2018) The cornerstone of research on subjective well-being: Valid assessment methodology. In: Handbook of well-being / Еd. by E. Diener, S. Oishi, L. Tay. Salt Lake City, UT: DEF Publishers: 1–11. DOI: nobascholar.com.

Przybylski A.K., Murayama K., De Haan C.R., et al. (2013) Motivational, emotional, and behavioral correlates of fear of missing out. Computers in Human Behavior. Vol. 29. No. 4: 1841–1848. DOI: 10.1016/j. chb.2013.02.014.

Ranzijn R., Luszcz M. (2000) Measurement of subjective quality of life of elders. The International Journal of Aging and Human Development. Vol. 50. No. 4: 263–278. DOI: 10.2190/4B0W-AMGU-2NDX–CYUQ.

Reer F., Tang W.Y., Quandt Th. (2019) Psychosocial well-being and social media engagement: The mediating roles of social comparison orientation and fear of missing out. New Media & Society. Vol. 21. No. 7: 1486–1505.

Ryff C.D. (1989) Happiness is everything, or is it? Explorations on the meaning of psychological well-being. Journal of personality and social psychology. Vol. 57. No. 6: 1069–1081. DOI: 10.1037/0022–3514.57.6.1069.

Sabatini F., Sarracino F. (2018) Keeping up with the e-Joneses: Do online social networks raise social comparisons? Economics Discussion Papers. No. 43: 1–25.

Savchenko T.N., Golovina G.N. (2019) Subjective quality of life: approaches, measurement. In: A.L. Zhuravlev, E.A. Sergienko, N.E. Kharlamenkova, G.A. Vilenskaya (eds). Development of concepts in modern psychology. Moscow: Institute of Psychology RAS. T. 2: 595–614. (In Russ.)

Sheldon K. (2016) Putting Eudaimonia in its Place: On the Predictor, No the Outcome, Side of the Equation. In: Handbook of Eudaimonic Well-Being / Еd. by J. Vittersø. Cham: Springer: 531–541. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-42445-3_36.

Sheldon K., Lyubomirsky S. (2019) Revisiting the Sustainable Happiness Model and Pie Chart: Can Happiness Be Successfully Pursued? The Journal of Positive Psychology: 1–10. DOI: 10.1080/17439760.2019.1689421.

Shevelenkova T.D., Fesenko P.P. (2005) Psychological well-being of the individual (review of the main concepts and research methods). Psychological diagnostics. No. 3: 95–129. (In Russ.)

Shilova V.A. (2020) Subjective well-being in the understanding of Russians: level assessments, connection with other indicators, subjective characteristics and models. In: INAB Information and Analytical Bulletin: Subjective and objective well-being in modern Russian society: results of an empirical study. No. 1: 18–39. (In Russ.)

Shiryaeva O.S. (2008) Psychological well-being of the individual in extreme conditions of life: Abstract of the thesis … cand. psychological sciences. Khabarovsk: KamSU named after V. Bering. (In Russ.)

Smith R.H. (2000) Assimilative and contrastive emotional reactions to upward and downward social comparisons. In: Handbook of social comparison / Ed. by J. Suls, L. Wheller. New York: Plenum: 173–200.

Subetto A.I. (2004) Quality of life: facets of the problem. St. Petersburg, Kostroma: N.A. Nekrasov KSU. (In Russ.)

Tatarova G.G., Kuchenkova A.V. (2016) Indicators of subjective well-being as type-forming signs. Sotsiologicheskie Issledovaniya [Sociological Studies]. No. 10: 21–32. (In Russ.)

Trotsuk I.V., Koroleva K.I. (2020) Subjective well-being-quality of life or happiness? Humanities, socioeconomic and social sciences. No. 9: 57–62. (In Russ.)

Wang J.L., Wang H.Z., Gaskin J., Hawk S. (2017) The Mediating Roles of Upward Social Comparison and Self-esteem and the Moderating Role of Social Comparison Orientation in the Association between Social Networking Site Usage and Subjective Well-Being. Frontiers in Psychology. Vol. 8: 1–9. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00771.

Waterman A.S., Schwartz S.J., Zamboanga B.L., Ravert R.D., Williams M.K., Bede Agocha V., Brent Donnellan M. (2010) The questionnaire for eudaimonic wellbeing: Psychometric properties, demographic comparisons, and evidence of validity. The Journal of Positive Psychology. Vol. 5. No. 1: 41–61. DOI: 10.1080/17439760903435208.

Wills A., Suls J. (1991) Commentary: Neo-social comparison theory and beyond. Social comparison. In: Suls J., Wills A. (eds) Contemporary theory and research. New York: Lawrence Erlbaum: 395–410.

Wills T.A. (1981) Downward comparison principles in social psychology. Psychological Bulletin. Vol. 90: 245–271. DOI: 10.1037/0033–2909.90.2.245

Zarakovsky T.M. (2009) The quality of life of the population of Russia: psychological components. Moscow: Sense. (In Russ.)

Content No 11, 2022