The relevance of social
comparison processes for prevention and health care
Bram P. Buunk,
Frederick X. Gibbons, Adriaan Visser
(2002) Patient Education
& Counseling, 47(1), 1-3.
Discusses the importance
of social comparison processes to illness prevention research and health care
delivery. Specifically, 4 issues related to social
comparison are addressed: (1) the effect of perceived norms in the reference
groups; (2) the role of social comparison in response to stress and
uncertainty; (3) the role of downward and upward comparisons in coping with
serious diseases; and (4) the role of cognitive biases such as unrealistic
optimism and prototypes in fostering and maintaining risk behavior. It is argued that the social comparison
approach has a strong potential to influence the practice of medicine and
public health. Ways in which this could
be accomplished are presented.