Individual differences in social comparison: Development of a scale of social comparison orientation.

1999/01/01 by Frederick X. Gibbons, Bram P. Buunk · 1,445 citations
Psychology · #Behavioral Health and Interventions #Developmental psychology #Orientation (vector space) #Perception #Psychology #Scale (ratio) #Social perception #Social psychology

paper · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.76.1.129

published in Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 76(1), 129-142 (American Psychological Association)

openalex publication_date 1999/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06

Abstract

Development and validation of a measure of individual differences in social comparison orientation (the Iowa-Netherlands Comparison Orientation Measure [INCOM]) are described.Assuming that the tendency toward social comparison is universal, the scale was constructed so as to be appropriate to and comparable in 2 cultures: American and Dutch.It was then administered to several thousand people in each country.Analyses of these data are presented indicating that the scale has good psychometric properties.In addition, a laboratory study and several field studies are described that demonstrated the INCOM's ability to predict comparison behavior effectively.Possible uses of the scale in basic and applied settings are discussed.

Citations

• A Theory of Social Comparison Processes
• Development and validation of brief measures of positive and negative affect: The PANAS scales.

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