Affect and identification in social comparison after loss of work

This study examined the effects of social comparison among 172 individuals who had recently lost their jobs in a collective dismissal of employees. A part of a fictitious interview with another fired person was presented to the participants. This interview contained social comparison information on the target's condition in coping or social support. The results indicated that social comparison with a target doing well generated more positive affect and less negative affect than social comparison with a target doing poorly. In addition, participants who were highly stressed as a result of being unemployed experienced more negative and less positive affect following social comparison than those who were low in stress. These effects of experienced stress were partly mediated by heightened identification with others doing poorly and by lowered identification with a target who coped well among those high in stress.