SOCIAL COMPARISONS AND THEIR AFFECTIVE CONSEQUENCES - THE IMPORTANCE OF COMPARISON DIMENSION AND INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCE VARIABLES

In an effort to extend research on the recently proposed notion that upward and downward comparisons do not necessarily lead to particular affective reactions, 151 people with multiple sclerosis were studied. Responses to social comparisons differed as a function of comparison dimension (physical condition vs. coping ability). Specifically, downward comparisons led to more reported affect on the physical condition dimension than the coping dimension, a result interpreted in terms of salience, distortability, and controllability of dimensions. Although beliefs about the future course of illness were unrelated to affective consequences from comparisons, a generalized expectancy measure of one's outlook regarding the future was related to negative affective consequences. Regarding the ambivalence principle of social comparison, respondents who believed it was more appropriate to make comparisons with others reported a greater number of downward, but not upward, comparisons. Moreover, appropriateness was related.