Emotional and self-evaluative effects of social comparison information in later life: how are they moderated by collective self-esteem?

This study examined how the emotional and self-evaluative effects of social comparison in 162 community-dwelling older people were moderated by individual differences in their collective self-esteem (CSE), a trait that reflects valuing and identifying with reference groups. In our experimental simulation, administered 6 years after participants' CSE was measured, those with higher CSE reported significantly more positive emotions and self-evaluations only after downward comparison (i.e., with a worse-off peer), and significantly more negative emotions only after upward comparison (i.e., with a better-off peer). These findings contradict the possibility that an adaptive advantage of high CSE might result from the propensity to identify strategically with upward comparison targets. However, contrast with downward targets presents a viable alternative explanation for this advantage.