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'Compared to What?': comparison choice in an internation context

Brown, Rupert, Haeger, G. (1999) 'Compared to What?': comparison choice in an internation context. European Journal of Social Psychology, 29 (1). pp. 31-42. ISSN 0046-2772. (doi:10.1002/(SICI)1099-0992(199902)29:1<31::AID-EJSP912>3.0.CO;2-6) (The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided) (KAR id:17139)

The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided.
Official URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1099-0992(199902)2...

Abstract

A survey was conducted to assess the prevalence of spontaneous social comparisons in people's ingroup descriptions and to investigate factors involved in the choice of an outgroup comparator. The intel group context was that of different countries within the European Community (EC). Two hundred and ninety-three respondents from six countries provided open-ended descriptions of their own country, rank ordered the twelve EC countries, and selected two other countries for comparison purposes. Social comparisons were made spontaneously by 20% of the sample; temporal comparisons less frequently (11%). There was a general tendency for respondents to choose higher-status comparators. These were still generally somewhat similar to own country except in the case of the two lowest-status countries where the preference was for dissimilar (and superior) outgroups. Regression analysis revealed that threat to national identity was also correlated with comparison choice. The findings are related to classic and contemporary theories of social comparison process. Copyright (C) 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1002/(SICI)1099-0992(199902)29:1<31::AID-EJSP912>3.0.CO;2-6
Subjects: B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Human and Social Sciences > School of Psychology
Depositing User: M. Nasiriavanaki
Date Deposited: 06 Jul 2009 07:28 UTC
Last Modified: 16 Nov 2021 09:55 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/17139 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

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