SELF-ESTEEM, SIMILARITY, AND REACTIONS TO ACTIVE VERSUS PASSIVE DOWNWARD COMPARISON

We tested the hypothesis that both high and low self-esteem persons engage in downward social comparison, but do so in different ways. The first experiment indicated that high self-esteem people, when threatened, derogate a downward comparison target (a form of "active" downward comparison). Men did this in terms of competence, women in terms of liking or social distance. Low self-esteem persons did not derogate the target when threatened, but they did report mood improvement after the comparison opportunity (evidence of "passive" downward comparison). The second experiment replicated this latter effect and indicated that mood enhancement is mediated by perceptions of similarity to the target; the more similar the threatened, low self-esteem persons thought they were to the target, the better they felt after the comparison. Implications for downward comparison theory are discussed.