Social Comparison as the Thief of Joy: Emotional Consequences of Viewing Strangers’ Instagram Posts

By Dian A. de Vries, A. Möller, Marieke S. Wieringa, Anniek W. Eigenraam, Kirsten Hamelink, Marieke S Marthe Möller, Anniek W Wieringa, Eigenraam Kirsten Hamelink. 2018

233 citations recorded by the source corpus.

ABSTRACT This experiment investigates the emotional consequences of viewing strangers’ positive posts on Instagram. From a social comparison perspective, strangers’ positive posts on social media are expected to negatively affect viewers’ emotions. From an emotional contagion perspective, strangers’ positive posts should positively affect viewers’ emotions. The current lab experiment examines both the social comparison and the emotional contagion perspective while taking individual differences into account. Participants viewed positive, neutral, or no posts of confederates. In support of the social comparison perspective, individuals who tend to compare themselves to others reported lower positive affect if they had viewed positive posts than if they had viewed neutral or no posts. In support of the emotional contagion perspective, individuals who tend not to engage in social comparison reported higher positive affect after viewing positive posts than after viewing neutral or no posts. These findings indicate that individual differences in processing tendencies lead people to respond to social information on social media in opposite ways.

Subfields: Communication, Sociology and Political Science, Statistical and Nonlinear Physics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/5cff74ef6eef009b5d3b68f1f9bfd49686073e42

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Communication

1. I. Anderson
2. Wendy Wood

In Sociology and Political Science

1. Eowyn van de Putte
2. Ruben Cambier
3. I. Anderson
4. Wendy Wood
5. R. de Raedt
6. Lien Faelens
7. Ernst H. W. Koster
8. Kristof Hoorelbeke

In Statistical and Nonlinear Physics

1. I. Anderson
2. Wendy Wood

Citations in the corpus

• Habits and the electronic herd: The psychology behind social media’s successes and failures (2020, background): “Instagram was the most popular smartphone-based social media app in 2019 (Perrin & Anderson, 2019).”
• The relationship between Instagram use and indicators of mental health: A systematic review (2021, background): “For example, De Vries et al. (2017) found that individuals with a high social comparison tendency report less positive affect after viewing positive posts as compared to neutral or no posts.”