Comparison with other people, a core element of social life, influences self-concept, attitudes, conformity, psychological and physical well-being, achievement, educational outcomes, and social movements. This volume presents classic and state-of-the-science chapters by leading experts that survey the major areas of social comparison theory and research.

Section I Basic Processes Chapter 1. A History of Social Comparison Ladd Wheeler and Jerry Suls Chapter 2. How Social Comparison Affects the Self: The Selective Accessibility Mechanism Thomas Mussweiler Chapter 3. Looking Up and Ahead: The Social Comparison of Abilities, Personal Attributes and Opinions Jerry Suls and Ladd Wheeler Chapter 4. Individual Differences in Social Comparison: The Complex Effects of Social Comparison Orientation A.P. Buunk, F.X. Gibbons, Pieternel Dijkstra, and Zlatan Krizan Chapter 5. Social Comparison Before, During, and After the Competition Stephen M. Garcia, Zachary A. Reese, and Avishalom Tor Chapter 6. Effects of local and global comparisons on self-assessment Ethan Zell and Mark Alicke Chapter 7. Agency and Communion in Social Comparison Kenneth D. Locke Chapter 8. Dimensional Comparison Theory: Extending the Internal/External Frame of Reference Model Friederike Helm, Herbert W. Marsh, Theresa Dicke, and Jens Möller Chapter 9. Envy and Social Comparison Envy Niels van de Ven and Marcel Zeelenberg Chapter 10. Stereotypes and Relative Social Status in Social Comparisons Jillian K. Swencionis and Susan T. Fiske Chapter 11. Perils of Outperforming Others Anne Zell, Julie Exline, and Marci Lobel Chapter 12. Temporal Comparisons in a Social World Anne E. Wilson and Erin Shanahan Section II Neighboring Fields Chapter 13. Local comparisons and general standards: Implications for Superiority and Inferiority Biases Yechiel Klar Chapter 14. Comparing One and Many: Insights from Judgment and Decision Making for Social Comparison Eleanor Putnam-Farr and Carey K. Morewedge Chapter 15. Approaches to Comparison and Their Influence on Social Comparison Arthur Markman Chapter 16. How Social Networks Can Inform Social Comparison Jingwen Zhang and Damon Centola Chapter 17. The Evolutionary Roots of Social Comparisons Marcela E. Benítez and Sarah F. Brosnan Section III Applications Section 18. Relative Deprivation Theory: Advances and Applications Heather J. Smith, Thomas F. Pettigrew, and Yuen J. Huo Chapter 19. Health Cognitions, Decision Making, and Behavior: The Ubiquity of Social Comparison William M.P. Klein and Elise Rice Chapter 20. Social Dominance Theory and Comparison Robin Bergh, Gregory Davis, Sa-Kiera Hudson, and Jim Sidanius Chapter 21. Myopia of the Masses: Relative Deprivation, Comparative Scope, and System Justification Ruthie Pliskin, Daniel Yudkin, John T. Jost, and Yaacov Trope Chapter 22. Income Inequality and Well-being: The Role of Social Comparison Felix Cheung and Richard E. Lucas

Selling point: Presents state-of-the-science conceptual and empirical discoveries and societal applications Selling point: Introduces new topics from neighboring fields (e.g., cognitive science, decision-making, animal comparative behavior, social networks) Selling point: Provides a broad overview of classic concepts and phenomena in the field of social comparison

Jerry Suls received his Ph.D. in Psychology from Temple University in 1973, and subsequently held faculty positions at Georgetown University, the State University of New York at Albany, and the University of Iowa. Formerly the Editor of Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin (1998-2001) and Social and Personality Psychology Compass (2006-13), he has served on numerous editorial boards and panels. His research has appeared in more than 230 publications and been supported by the National Institutes of Health, American Heart Association, National Science Foundation, and The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. In 2012, he received the Distinguished Scientific Contributions Award from APA Division 38 (Society for Health Psychology). Currently, Currently, he is an Investigator in the Center for Personalized Health at the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research in New York City. Rebecca L. Collins received her Ph.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1989. She is Senior Behavioral Scientist at the RAND Corporation in Santa Monica, CA. For the past two decades, she has examined how comparison and related processes influence substance use and sexual risk behavior among adolescents, young adults, sexual minorities, and individuals living with HIV infection. Currently, she is studying the effectiveness of social marketing campaigns designed to increase treatment seeking for mental health problems. Her research has appeared on the Today Show, CNN, and NBC Nightly News and has been featured in Time Magazine, The New York Times, the Washington Post, and USA Today. Ladd Wheeler received his Ph.D. in Social Psychology from the University of Minnesota in 1962. His major research interests included social comparison theory, behavioral contagion, attractiveness, and social interaction. He pioneered the use of the rank-order paradigm and diary methods in social comparison research, such as the Rochester Interaction Record and the Social Comparison record. He was president of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology and the founding editor of the Review of Personality and Social Psychology. He passed away in 2018.

Selling point: Presents state-of-the-science conceptual and empirical discoveries and societal applications Selling point: Introduces new topics from neighboring fields (e.g., cognitive science, decision-making, animal comparative behavior, social networks) Selling point: Provides a broad overview of classic concepts and phenomena in the field of social comparison