Social comparison in adjustment to breast cancer.
Social comparison in adjustment to breast cancer.
复制标题
适应乳腺癌的社会比较。
DOI：
10.1037/0022-3514.49.5.1169
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发表时间：
1985
影响因子：
7.6
通讯作者：
R. Lichtman
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
J. V. Wood;S. Taylor;R. Lichtman
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We investigated four theoretical perspectives concerning the role of social comparison (Festinger, 1954) in coping with a threatening event in a sample of breast cancer patients. According to the supercoper perspective, personal contact with comparison others is often unavailable to patients, and contact with media "supercopers"--fellow victims presented as adjusting very smoothly--may make patients feel inadequate by comparison. According to the similarity perspective, patients select comparison targets who are similar to themselves because those comparisons should be the most informative. The upward comparison perspective is predictive of comparisons to relatively advantaged or superior individuals. The downward comparison perspective leads to the prediction that under conditions of threat, individuals make comparisons to people who are inferior or less fortunate in order to enhance their self-esteem. We interviewed 78 breast cancer patients, and results of both closed-ended questions and spontaneously offered comparisons yielded a preponderance of downward comparisons. The results point to the value of using naturalistic methods for studying comparisons, and suggest a more active and cognitive role for social comparison than is usually portrayed.