Glossary
Social comparison
What is social comparison?
Social comparison means evaluating your opinions, abilities, or performance in relation to other people. Festinger’s social comparison theory concerns this process of self-evaluation.
Upward and downward social comparison
Upward social comparison is comparison with someone you see as doing better on the relevant dimension. Downward social comparison is comparison with someone you see as doing worse. For example, a runner might compare a race time with a faster runner’s time or with a slower runner’s time. The direction alone does not tell you whether the comparison will encourage or discourage further effort.
Social comparison as a behavior change technique
As a behavior change technique, social comparison draws attention to other people's performance so someone can compare it with their own.
Example
A team member sees colleagues' completion rates alongside their own rate for the same task. That supplies a comparison. Merely placing people in a group does not.
What defines the technique?
The Behavior Change Technique Taxonomy identifies social comparison as technique 6.2. It distinguishes information about others' performance from information about whether they approve of a behavior.