Young June Sah, Wei Peng, & Jina Huh
In this position paper, we describe our ongoing work on psychological and behavioral effects of social comparison in social networking sites and online communities. As a framework, we examined the social comparison theory. Researchers identified two core comparison processes in social comparison in an offline context—assimilation and contrast. Assimilation refers to the process in which people focus on the similarity of the target and behave similar to the target. In this case, people prefer interacting with a better-off target. Contrast, on the other hand, describes a process where people attend to the discrepancy of the target and behave dissimilar from the target. In this case, people prefer to compare with a worse-off target. We expect that these processes also occur in online environments. To test our hypothesis, we designed an experiment in the context of an online weight loss community. We will manipulate member profiles (similar or dissimilar to each participant) and their status (better-off or worse-off). We will then test the effects of comparison on online-behavior, self evaluation and physical activities. We expect that the results can provide implications for utilizing social comparison theory in online health communities, especially in providing personalized suggestions on who to interact with depending on the user’s profile and current health status.
In this position paper, we describe our ongoing work on psychological and behavioral effects of social comparison in social networking sites and online communities. As a framework, we examined the social comparison theory. Researchers identified two core comparison processes in social comparison in an offline context—assimilation and contrast. Assimilation refers to the process in which people focus on the similarity of the target and behave similar to the target. In this case, people prefer interacting with a better-off target. Contrast, on the other hand, describes a process where people attend to the discrepancy of the target and behave dissimilar from the target. In this case, people prefer to compare with a worse-off target. We expect that these processes also occur in online environments. To test our hypothesis, we designed an experiment in the context of an online weight loss community. We will manipulate member profiles (similar or dissimilar to each participant) and their status (better-off or worse-off). We will then test the effects of comparison on online-behavior, self evaluation and physical activities. We expect that the results can provide implications for utilizing social comparison theory in online health communities, especially in providing personalized suggestions on who to interact with depending on the user’s profile and current health status.