Instagram Inspiration: How Upward Comparison on Social Network Sites Can Contribute to Well-Being

By Adrian Meier, Alicia Gilbert, S. Börner, Daniel Possler. 2020

143 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Passive exposure to others’ positive self-presentations on social network sites (SNS) such as Instagram has been repeatedly associated with reduced well-being, particularly by triggering upward social comparison and envy. However, prior research has largely neglected that upward comparisons on SNS may also facilitate positive outcomes, specifically media-induced inspiration, a motivational state highly conducive to well-being. We conducted two experiments that tested whether and how cognitive-affective processing of visual SNS postings results in inspiration. Study 1 (N = 270) provides first evidence that users react to more positive, optimized Instagram nature and travel posts with stronger upward comparison, which facilitates inspiration via an assimilative emotional reaction (benign envy), thus enhancing well-being. The preregistered Study 2 (N = 408) replicates these findings. Overall, results indicate that users can be inspired from comparing upwards on SNS, which may briefly improve their well-being. We discuss boundary conditions and implications for future communication research.

Subfields: Literature and Literary Theory, Sociology and Political Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/3dfc9d33c262ee17a94af96ca18d515b9e85e1d7

Citations in the corpus

• Social Media Use and Adolescents’ Well-Being: Developing a Typology of Person-Specific Effect Patterns (2020, unknown): “And while passive public use may undermine some adolescents’ well-being, for instance because they feel worse off than others, it may enhance other adolescents’ well-being, for instance because it leads to inspiration (Meier et al., 2020; Weinstein, 2018).”