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Examining Social Comparisons with the Test Selection Measure

Opportunities for the Researcher and the Research Participant

  • Chapter
Handbook of Social Comparison

Part of the book series: The Springer Series in Social Clinical Psychology ((SSSC))

Abstract

Imagine that you and a colleague have both been nominated for a prestigious, university-wide teaching award. In the end, your colleague wins the teaching award and you are crushed. If your goal is self-enhancement—to feel better about yourself—or at least to ensure that you do not feel any worse than you already do, what strategies of social comparison could you use? One possibility is that you could avoid comparing yourself with your colleague, to prevent further injury to your ego. A second possibility is that you could seek new comparisons with your colleague on the dimension of teaching ability, in an effort to convince yourself or others that you actually are the better teacher. For example, you could attend her class and see whether she can hold an audience of undergraduates as spellbound as you can. Or you could focus on your ability to nurture the creative talents of graduate students, a quality your colleague lacks. Alternatively, you could concede that your colleague is the better teacher, and you could seek out comparisons on dimensions other than teaching ability. Is she as happily married as you are? Is she as good at gardening?

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, N2L 3G1

    Joanne V. Wood

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  1. Joanne V. Wood
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, USA

    Jerry Suls

  2. University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia

    Ladd Wheeler

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Wood, J.V. (2000). Examining Social Comparisons with the Test Selection Measure. In: Suls, J., Wheeler, L. (eds) Handbook of Social Comparison. The Springer Series in Social Clinical Psychology. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-4237-7_11

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-4237-7_11

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4613-6903-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4615-4237-7

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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