Social Comparison

Jerry Suls and Thomas Ashby Wills.

• Contributors. Introduction. Part I: General Models of Social Comparison 1. A Brief History of Social Comparison Theory Ladd Wheeler 2. Serving Self-Relevant Goals Through Social Comparison Joanne V. Wood and Kathryn L. Taylor 3. Similarity and Self-Esteem in Downward Comparison Thomas Ashby Wills 4. Changing Patterns of Comparative Behavior as Skills Are Acquired: A Functional Model of Self-Evaluation Diane N. Ruble and Karin S. Frey 5. Emotion in Social Comparison and Reflection Processes Abraham Tesser Part II: Social Cognition and Social Comparison 6. The Uniqueness Bias: Studies of Constructive Social Comparison George R. Goethals, David M. Messick and Scott T. Allison 7. Social Projection and Attitudinal Certainty Norman Miller, Sharon Gross and Rolf Holtz 8. Self-Esteem and Intergroup Comparisons: Toward a Theory of Collective Self-Esteem Riia Luhtanen and Jennifer Crocker Part III: Specific Models of Comparison 9. Responses to Upward and Downward Social Comparisons: The Impact of Esteem-Relevance and Perceived Control Brenda Major, Maria Testa and Wayne H. Bylsma 10. Social Comparison Processes in Envy and Jealousy Peter Salovey 11. When Social Comparison Goes Awry: The Case of Pluralistic Ignorance Dale T. Miller and Cathy McFarland Part IV: Applied Models of Social Comparison 12. Downward Comparison and Coping with Threat Frederick X. Gibbons and Meg Gerrard 13. Comparisons, Justice, and the Internment of Japanese-Americans Donna Nagata and Faye Crosby 14. Social Comparison and Coping with Major Medical Problems Glenn Affleck and Howard Tennen Part V 15. Commentary: Neo-Social Comparison Theory and Beyond Thomas Ashby Wills and Jerry Suls. Author Index. Subject Index.