Comparison Is the Thief of Joy? Introducing the Attitudes Towards Social Comparison Inventory

2023/10/24 by Pascal Schlechter, Thomas Meyer, Nexhmedin Morina · 1 voice
Psychology · Social Sciences · #Behavioral Health and Interventions #Psychological and Temporal Perspectives Research #Social and Intergroup Psychology

paper · doi:10.1177/10731911231203968

openalex publication_date 2023/10/24 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/05/28

Abstract

Social comparison has a significant impact on individuals’ motivation, affect, and behavior. However, we lack a scale that captures individual differences in attitudes toward social comparison. To address this gap, we developed the Attitudes Toward Social Comparison Inventory (ASCI) drawing on existing scales that tap into metacognitive beliefs about worrying, self-motives, beliefs about emotions, and the general comparative-processing model. We examined the psychometric properties of the ASCI in a longitudinal study ( N = 1,084), and a second ( N = 550) and third cross-sectional study ( N = 306). Through exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, we identified a 12-item two-factor solution capturing positive and negative attitudes toward social comparison. The ASCI demonstrated measurement invariance across gender and time. The two factors were differentially and longitudinally associated with relevant constructs, including social comparison, metacognitive beliefs about worrying, depression, self-concept clarity, envy, and self-esteem. The ASCI facilitates comprehensive investigations of social comparison processes.

Citations

• A Theory of Social Comparison Processes
• Identification of Confirmatory Factor Analysis Models of Different Levels of Invariance for Ordered Categorical Outcomes
• The Struggle Is Relative: A Comparative Processing Perspective on Academic Self-Concept and Student Mental Health
• A social comparison scale: Psychometric properties and relationship to psychopathology
• Dispositional Envy Revisited

Discussions

• Social comparisons serve self-evaluation and have profound motivational consequences. But role do people's attitudes toward comparisons play? Since an instrument to caputure such attitudes was lacking [bsky, 8 points, 0 comments]

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