Psychology Commons^™

To Foster Change, Damon Tichenor

Online Theses and Dissertations

The current study intended to investigate the effects of increased similarity to upward, lateral, and downward comparison targets on changes to participants’ psychological well-being and self-aspect valence. Based on previous literature, hypotheses were proposed in regard to the effect of increased similarity to each direction of comparison. A sample of students in introductory psychology classes from Eastern Kentucky University were employed to test these hypotheses. All of the participants completed measures that captured their self-aspect valence and centrality, perception of comparison targets, and psychological well-being. The results of this study confirmed some of the hypotheses. The results showed that for …