We often hear about stories that people only post their best selves on social media, their happiest moments and not what happens behind closed doors. We can easily fall into the trap of believing that all of your friends are living their best lives while you just become more and more unhappy. Social Comparison Theory holds that an individual’s happiness depends on the comparison to others in a social context (8).
A person’s happiness is assessed in comparison to others rather than in isolation (3). It thus important to know how happy people in similar circumstances – individuals with a similar level of health, level of income, similar in personality, achievement and age – to you are. If people have a lower level of happiness compared to you, you are more likely to be perceived as happier and if you constantly spend time in this circle (and their happiness levels are lower to yours) you have likely reached your maximum level of happiness (7, 3, 5) as there is no need for you to grow and seek further happiness.
In situations of hardship and severe loss, this downward social comparison can help a person cope and can have a positive impact on their overall happiness level (5). However, if someone in this reference group has considerably more than you, your happiness level will be reduced (3).
As such, happiness is dependent on the distance between what people want and what they have (4, 8). A person’s overall level of happiness relies heavily on the degree to which a person is a content with this balance between what they have and what they want (6).
Aspirations can eliminate this effect of contentment on happiness as the more someone has, the more they want (2, 8). In this light, when we evaluate the paradox between income and happiness, it is relative income compared to friends, siblings, colleagues and people with similar levels of education rather than absolute income that has the greatest impact on happiness. Veterinarians are often prone to use social comparison theory when they assess their income, but they often inaccurately estimate the income levels of others (1).
There is another sphere to comparison theory called ‘lifetime comparison’ that compares how someone is doing now compared to how she or he did before and assesses whether it is better or worse (6). Personal development plays a fundamental role in this kind of comparison as it allows a person to identify how she or he has grown over time (7) and thus increase or decrease your happiness levels based on the result.
What are your thoughts? Do you often compare yourself to colleagues, family and friends to assess how happy you are or whether you are content with your salary? Or do you look at where you were a few years ago and feel happy with how far you have come?
References:
- Cake, M., Bell, M., Bickley, N. & Bartram, D. (2015). The Life of Meaning: A Model of the Positive Contributions to Well-Being from Veterinary Work. Journal of Veterinary Medical Education, 42(3), 184-193.
- Helliwell, J., Layard, R. & Sachs, J. (2017). World Happiness Report 2017 (pp. 1-188). New York: Sustainable Development Solutions Network. Retrieved 3 April 2017, from https://s3.amazonaws.com/sdsn-whr2017/HR17_3-20-17.pdf
- Paul, S. & Guilbert, D. (2013). Income–Happiness Paradox in Australia: Testing the Theories of Adaptation and Social Comparison. Economic Modelling, 30, 900-910.
- Rojas, M. & Veenhoven, R. (2011). Contentment and Affect in the Estimation of Happiness. Social Indicators Research, 110(2), 415-431.
- Stewart, T., Chipperfield, J., Ruthig, J. & Heckhausen, J. (2013). Downward Social Comparison and Subjective Well-Being in Late Life: The Moderating Role of Perceived Control. Aging & Mental Health, 17(3), 375-385.
- Veenhoven, R. (2006). How Do We Assess How Happy We Are? Tenets, Implications and Tenability of Three Theories. Paper presented at conference on ‘New Directions in the Study of Happiness’: United States and International Perspectives (pp. 1-28). University of Notre Dame, USA, October 22-24, 2006.
- Veenhoven, R. (2014b). Informed Pursuit of Happiness: What We Should Know, Do Know and Can Get to Know. Journal of Happiness Studies, 16(4), 1035-1071.
- Veenhoven, R. (2015). Greater Happiness for a Greater Number: Did the Promise of Enlightenment Come True? Social Indicators Research, 130(1), 9-25.
