Culture, gender, and the self: variations and impact of social comparison processes

Psychological differences between women and men, far from being invariant as a biological explanation would suggest, fluctuate in magnitude across cultures. Moreover, contrary to the implications of some theoretical perspectives, gender differences in personality, values, and emotions are not smaller, but larger, in American and European cultures, in which greater progress has been made toward gender equality. This research on gender differences in self-construals involving 950 participants from 5 nations/cultures (France, Belgium, the Netherlands, the United States, and Malaysia) illustrates how variations in social comparison processes across cultures can explain why gender differences are stronger in Western cultures. Gender differences in the self are a product of self-stereotyping, which occurs when between-gender social comparisons are made. These social comparisons are more likely, and exert a greater impact, in Western nations. Both correlational and experimental evidence supports this explanation.     

Marital satisfaction in patients with cancer: does support from intimate partners benefit those who need it the most?

This cross-sectional study assessed 3 ways of providing spousal support. Active engagement means involving the patient in discussions and using constructive problem-solving methods; protective buffering means hiding one's concerns; and overprotection refers to underestimation of the patient's capabilities, resulting in unnecessary help and excessive praise for accomplishments. Ratings of received spousal support by 68 patients with cancer revealed findings similar to those of partners' ratings of provided support. The positive association between active engagement and the patient's marital satisfaction was stronger for patients with a rather poor psychological and physical condition than for those with a rather good condition. Furthermore, protective buffering and overprotection were negatively associated with marital satisfaction only when patients experienced relatively high levels of psychological distress or physical limitations.     

Parents just don't understand: Parent-offspring conflict over mate choice

Previous research reveals that children and parents are not in complete agreement over which traits are most important for the mate of the child. Children tend to prefer traits that suggest genetic quality, whereas parents prefer characteristics that suggest high parental investment and cooperation with the ingroup. Using a sample of parents, mothers (n = 234) and fathers (n =240) the hypothesis was supported; parents perceived characteristics indicating a lack of genetic quality as being more unacceptable to the child, while characteristics indicating a lack of parental investment and cooperation with the ingroup were more unacceptable to themselves. Sex differences between mothers and fathers and sons and daughters were explored.     

Social Interactions and Feelings of Inferiority

A daily event-recording method, referred to as the Daily Interaction Record in Organizations (DIRO) was employed for assessing the influence of three types of social interaction on negative affect at work. For this purpose, 38 correctional officers (COs) completed forms, for a l-week period, that described their social interactions and stressful events at work. Moreover, the forms measured the negative feelings of COs both at the beginning and at the end of the workday. The results showed that each type of social interaction had a different effect on negative affect at the end of the day. Instrumental support showed an adverse effect on negative affect because this type of support appeared to induce feelings of inferiority, which in turn led to negative affect. Rewarding companionship appeared to have a positive effect, whereas intimate support showed no effect at all on negative affect. It is concluded that a micro-analytic approach offers interesting possibilities for fine-grained analyses of daily occurring social interactions and psychological mechanisms involved in social support as related to negative affect.     

Attractive rivals may undermine the expectation of career advancement and enhance jealousy. An experimental study

This experiment with 119 adult females examined the effect of a rival’s attractiveness on jealousy and career advancement expectations in a simulated work setting where individuals had to compete for a job promotion. We hypothesized that an attractive rival would evoke relatively more jealousy and lower career advancement expectations, especially in individuals high in Intrasexual Competitiveness (ISC). In addition, we examined the moderating effects of characteristics attributed to the rival in terms of popularity, professionalism, and unfriendliness. The results showed that, overall, an attractive rival induced more jealousy and lower career advancement expectations than an unattractive rival. Especially among women who attributed unfriendliness to their rival, the attractiveness of the rival induced higher levels of jealousy and lower career advancement expectations. Among women high in ISC, the rival’s attractiveness induced lower career advancement expectations. It is recommended that managers and human resource officials pay particular attention to how physical attractiveness may interfere with female employees’ professional development, and to the important role of emotions in the workplace.     

The Big Five and identification–contrast processes in social comparison in adjustment to cancer treatment

The present study examined the relationship between social comparison processes and the Big Five personality factors. In a sample of 112 patients with various forms of cancer it was found that Neuroticism was associated with a tendency to focus on the negative interpretation of social comparison information that expressed itself in identification with fellow patients who were doing worse. This identification process also seemed to mediate the (negative) relationship between Neuroticism and post‐treatment feelings of mastery and uncertainty. No relationship was found between Neuroticism and the tendency to contrast one's situation against the situation of others who are doing better. Unexpectedly, Extraversion was most strongly related to a tendency to contrast one's situation against the situation of fellow patients who are doing better. Agreeableness, Conscientiousness and Intellect/Autonomy were unrelated to social comparison. The therapeutical implications of the findings for cancer patients are discussed. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Attitudes of minority and majority members towards adaptation of immigrants

In two studies, one among 94 Moroccan and 203 Turkish immigrants in the Netherlands and one among 1844 people of the Dutch majority, we examined how these groups react to four different adaptation strategies of people with a Moroccan and a Turkish background. These strategies are: assimilation (original culture is considered unimportant whereas contact with the majority is considered important), integration (both the original culture and contact with the majority are important), separation (original culture is considered important whereas contact with the majority is not), and marginalization (both the original culture and contact with the majority are considered unimportant). The respondents were confronted with a scenario (a fictitious newspaper article) representing one of the four strategies. Moroccans and Turks had to indicate whether they identified themselves with the person in the scenario. Their affective and normative reactions towards that person were also measured. Both Moroccans and Turks appeared to react most positively to integration and to identify themselves most with an integrating person. Dutch majority members were asked to estimate the percentage of Moroccans or Turks that use a particular adaptation form, and were also asked to give their affective and normative reactions towards the person in the scenario. The Dutch have positive attitudes towards assimilation and integration. Remarkably, they believe that separation, which is the least liked strategy by them, is the one chosen most frequently by the immigrants. Copyright © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Accentuate the Negative: Social Images in the Prediction and Promotion of Condom Use1

Based on the negativity bias in person perception, we argue that behavioral decisions related to condom use are influenced by the social images that an individual has of people who do not use condoms, but that they are not influenced by the social images that an individual has of people who do use condoms. Three studies with college student samples indicated that the negative evaluations of people who do not use condoms predicts willingness to have sex without condoms. In contrast, positive evaluations of people who do use condoms showed no unique predictions. A fourth study demonstrated that a health message emphasizing the negative social consequences of having sex without condoms decreased willingness to have unsafe sex in comparison to a control, whereas a message that emphasized the positive social consequences of using condoms had no such effects on willingness.     

Social Support, Locus of Control, and Psychological Well-Being

Social support seems to be positively related to psychological well-being. Studies have shown that individual differences exist in the ability to mobilize and use sources of support. The current study focused on locus of control as a personality factor that might be related to this ability. In 2 samples it was shown that individuals with an internal locus of control perceived more support than did individuals with an external locus of control. Moreover, Study 1 included a sample of mainly females and showed that social support was particularly related to the psychological well-being of individuals with an external locus of control. In a second study, this moderating effect of locus of control could only be replicated for women. For men, no moderating effect of locus of control was found. The implications of these findings for interventions are discussed.