Doing Better—Feeling Worse? Social Comparison in Romantic Couples

Anne and Berta are taking the same class. When Anne finds out that Berta received a much higher grade on the final exam than she did, Anne feels upset and jealous. But what if Anne and Berta were not acquaintances, but in a romantic relationship? Would Anne feel happy for Berta's good grade or still upset about being outperformed?

People compare themselves to the people around them to evaluate their own abilities and opinions, and usually feel negative if they are outperformed by someone else. But do people also feel negative if it is their romantic partner who outperforms them, or does the joy for the partner’s success outweigh negative feelings? This talk will give an introduction to social comparison theory and will discuss why social comparisons in romantic couples are distinct from other types of comparison.

Patrick Klaiber is currently a Ph.D. student in the Department of Psychology at UBC. He received a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from the University of Freiburg, Germany and a Master of Science in Clinical and Health Psychology from Freie Universitaet Berlin, Germany. He is part of the UPLIFT Health Lab (PI: Dr. Nancy Sin) and conducts research on people’s positive experiences in daily life, and how these experiences relate to physical health. In his work, he focuses on individual differences in how people respond to positive experiences and how they relate to basic personality dimensions.