Should You Keep Up with the Joneses?

Jan 12, 2022 | The Indigo Podcast

The Indigo Podcast is available on all major podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Google Podcasts. Wherever you listen, please consider giving us a quick review and 5-star rating if you think we deserve it. For more details about the different sections of Elevating What Works and how to manage your subscription including e-mails and notifications, click here.

Here’s the episode:

For those of us living among other people–which is basically all of us unless you’re a total hermit–it’s natural to look around and notice other people. This is something called “social comparison.” But it has both negative and positive outcomes for us. In this episode, we discuss: 

  • What social comparison is

  • How does social comparison work and what are its outcomes

  • Implications for people, leaders, and organizations

Thanks for reading! Elevating What Works is a reader-supported publication by Ben Baran and Chris Everett. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Links and Other Information

The Stress of Social Comparison: article 

New York Times article: You Won’t Find Your Self-Worth on Instagram   

Hobza, C. L., Walker, K. E., Yakushko, O., & Peugh, J. L. (2007). What about men? Social comparison and the effects of media images on body and self-esteem. Psychology of Men & Masculinity, 8(3), 161.  Click here 

Hogue, J. V., & Mills, J. S. (2019). The effects of active social media engagement with peers on body image in young women. Body Image, 28, 1-5. Click here

Experience Magazine: Jealous of your Facebook friends? You’re not alone. 

Vogel, E. A., Rose, J. P., Okdie, B. M., Eckles, K., & Franz, B. (2015). Who compares and despairs? The effect of social comparison orientation on social media use and its outcomes. Personality and Individual Differences, 86, 249-256. Click here 

Gibbons, F. X., & Buunk, B. P. (1999). Individual differences in social comparison: development of a scale of social comparison orientation. Journal of personality and social psychology, 76(1), 129. Click here 

Park, S. Y., & Baek, Y. M. (2018). Two faces of social comparison on Facebook: The interplay between social comparison orientation, emotions, and psychological well-being. Computers in Human Behavior, 79, 83-93. Click here 

All episodes plus MUCH more: Elevating What Works

Like us on Facebook

Follow us on Twitter