Asia Marketing Journal

Korean Marketing Association (한국마케팅학회)
권호 표지
DOI QR코드

DOI QR Code

Social Comparison Theory and Interpersonal Contact: The Influence of Incidental Envy on Contacting Higher or Lower Status Others

  • Youn, Y. Jin (SNU Business School, Seoul National University) ;
  • Park, Kiwan (SNU Business School, Seoul National University)
  • Received : 2018.03.29
  • Accepted : 2018.07.20
  • Published : 2018.07.31
Download PDF
⟨ Previous Next ⟩

Abstract

Incidental envy influences behavior in various domains. However, no research, to date, has investigated whether incidental envy influences interpersonal behavior toward others who are unrelated to the emergence of the emotion. That is, the literature is silent on how those who experience incidental envy engage in interpersonal contact and how this may affect consumers. In this paper, we address this question by investigating the influence of incidental envy on interpersonal contact with others of higher or lower status based on the social comparison theory. We demonstrate that incidental envy (versus a neutral emotion) motivates people to contact higher status others to facilitate upward assimilation (experiments 1 and 2). We also show that when competition (a situational factor that heightens the personal relevance of the interaction with the target) is involved, individuals who feel envy (versus a neutral emotion) are more likely to contact lower status others to engage in downward contrast (experiment 3). We conclude with a discussion of the practical implications of our findings.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support from the Institute of Management Research, Seoul National University

References

  1. Belk, Russell (2011), "Benign envy," AMS Review, 1(3-4), 117-34.
  2. Bers, Susan A. and Judith Rodin (1984), "Socialcomparison jealousy: A developmental and motivational study," Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 47(4), 766-79.
  3. Buunk, Bram P., Rebecca L. Collins, Shelley E. Taylor, Nico W. Vanyperen, and Gayle A. Dakof (1990), "The affective consequences of social comparison: Either direction has its ups and downs," Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 59(6), 1238-49.
  4. Collins, Rebecca L. (1996), "For better or worse: The impact of upward social comparison on self-evaluations," Psychological Bulletin, 119(1), 51-69.
  5. Collins, Rebecca L. (2000), "Among the better ones," in Handbook of Social Comparison: Theory and research, ed. Jerry Suls and Ladd Wheeler, New York, NY: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, 159-71.
  6. Deutsch, Morton (1949), "An experimental study of the effects of co-operation and competition upon group process," Human Relations, 2(3), 199-231.
  7. Durante, Kristina M., Vladas Griskevicius, Sarah E. Hill, Carin Perilloux, and Norman P. Li (2011), "Ovulation, female competition, and product choice: Hormonal influences on consumer behavior," Journal of Consumer Research, 37(6), 921-34.
  8. Elster, Jon (1989), The cement of society: A survey of social order. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
  9. Festinger, Leon (1954), "A theory of social comparison processes," Human Relations, 7, 117-140.
  10. Fischhoff, Baruch, Roxana M. Gonzalez, Deborah A. Small, and Jennifer S. Lerner (2003), "Judged terror risk and proximity to the world trade center," Journal of Risks and Uncertainty, 26, 137-51.
  11. Goethals, George R. and John M. Darley (1977), "Social comparison theory: An attributional approach," in Social comparison processes: Theoretical and empirical perspectives, ed. Jerry Suls and Richard L. Miller, Washington, DC: Hemisphere Publishing, 259-78.
  12. Hill, Sarah E. and David M. Buss (2008a), "The evolutionary psychology of envy," in Envy: Theory and Research, ed. Richard H. Smith, New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 60-70.
  13. Hill, Sarah E. (2008b), "The mere presence of opposite-sex others on judgments of sexual and romantic desirability: Opposite effects for men and women," Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 34(5), 635-47.
  14. Hill, Sarah E., Danielle Delpriore, and Phillip Vaughan (2011), "The cognitive consequences of envy: Attention, memory, and selfregulatory depletion," Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 101(4), 653-66.
  15. Hoogland, Charles E., Stephen Thielke, and Richard H. Smith (2016), "Envy as an evolving episode," in Envy at work and in organizations: Research, theory, and applications, ed. Richard H. Smith, Ugo Merlone, and Michelle K., New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 111-42.
  16. Lange, Jens, Aaron C. Weidman, and Jan Crusius (2018), "The painful duality of envy: Evidence for an integrative theory and a meta-analysis on the relation of envy and schadenfreude," Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Advance online publication.
  17. Lockwood, Penelope and Ziva Kunda (1997), "Superstars and me: Predicting the impact of role models on the self," Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 73(1), 91-103.
  18. Malatesta, Carol Z. and Carroll E. Izard (1984), "The facial expression of emotion: Young, middle-aged, and older adult expressions," in Emotion in adult development, ed. Carol Z. Malatesta and Carroll E. Izard, Beverly Hills, CA: Sage, 253-73.
  19. Miceli, Maria and Cristiano Castelfranchi (2007), "The envious mind," Cognition & Emotion, 21(3), 449-79.
  20. Molleman, Eric, Jean Pruyn, and Ad Knippenberg (1986), "Social comparison processes among cancer patients," British Journal of Social Psychology, 25(1), 1-13.
  21. Morse, Stan and Kenneth J. Gergen (1970), "Social comparison, self-consistency, and the concept of self," Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 16(1), 148-56.
  22. Mussweiler, Thomas, Katja Ruter, and Kai Epstude (2004), "The man who wasn't there: Subliminal social comparison standards influence self-evaluation," Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 40(5), 689-96.
  23. National Universities Ranking (accessed 2017, January 9), [available at http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/bestcolleges/rankings/national-universities].
  24. Parrott, W. Gerrod (1991), "Experiences of envy and jealousy," In The psychology of jealousy and envy, ed. Peter Salovey, New York, NY: The Guilford Press, 3-30.
  25. Parrott, W. Gerrod and Richard H. Smith (1993), "Distinguishing the experiences of envy and jealousy," Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 64(6), 906-20.
  26. Polman, Evan and Rachel L. Ruttan (2011), "Effects of anger, guilt, and envy on moral hypocrisy," Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 38(1), 129-39.
  27. Preacher, Kristopher J. and Andrew F. Hayes (2004), "SPSS and SAS procedures for estimating indirect effects in simple mediation models," Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers, 36(4), 717-31.
  28. Salovey, Peter (1991), The psychology of jealousy and envy. New York, NY: Guilford Press.
  29. Schindler, Ines, Juliane Paech, and Fabian Lowenbruck (2014), "Linking admiration and adoration to self-expansion: Different ways to enhance one's potential," Cognition and Emotion, 29(2), 292-310.
  30. Silver, Maury and John Sabini (1978), "The perception of envy," Social Psychology, 41(2), 105-11.
  31. Smith, Richard H. (1991), "Envy and the sense of injustice" The psychology of jealousy and envy, ed. Peter Salovey, New York, NY: Guilford Press, 79-99.
  32. Smith, Richard H., Sung Hee Kim and W. Gerrod Parrott (1988), "Envy and jealousy," Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 14(2), 401-9.
  33. Suls, Jerry, Rene Martin, and Ladd Wheeler (2002), "Social comparison: Why, with whom, and with what effect?" Current Directions in Psychological Science, 11(5), 159-163.
  34. Taylor, Shelley E., Bran P. Buunk, and Lisa G. Aspinwall (1990), "Social comparison, stress, and coping," Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 16(1), 74-89.
  35. Taylor, Shelley E. and Marci Lobel (1989), "Social comparison activity under threat: Downward evaluation and upward contacts," Psychological Review, 96(4), 569-75.
  36. Tesser, Abraham, Murray Millar, and Janet Moore (1988), "Some affective consequences of social comparison and reflection processes: The pain and pleasure of being close," Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54(1), 49-61.
  37. Van de Ven, Niels, Marcel Zeelenberg, and Rik Pieters (2009), "Leveling up and down: The experiences of benign and malicious envy," Emotion, 9 (3), 419-29.
  38. Van de Ven, Niels (2011a), "The envy premium in product evaluation," Journal of Consumer Research, 37(6), 984-98.
  39. Van de Ven, Niels (2011b), "Why envy outperforms admiration," Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 37(6), 784-95.
  40. Wheeler, Ladd and Kunitate Miyake (1992), "Social comparisons in everyday life," Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 62 (5), 760-73.
  41. Wills, Thomas A. (1981), "Downward comparison principles in social psychology," Psychological Bulletin, 90(2), 245-71.
  42. Wood, Joanne V., Shelley E. Taylor, and Rosemary R. Lichtman (1985), "Social comparison in adjustment to breast cancer.," Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 49(5), 1169-83.
  43. Wood, Joanne V. (1989), "Theory and research concerning social comparisons of personal attributes," Psychological Bulletin, 106(2), 231-48.