title: "She got more than me". Social comparison and the social context of eating.
abstract: Eating is a social activity for most people. Other people influence what and how much an individual chooses and eats. Such social influence on eating has long been recognized and studied, but we contend here that one important social influence factor, social comparison, has been largely overlooked by researchers. We review the literature on comparing oneself to others on eating and weight-related dimensions, which appears to have an effect not only on eating per se, but also on self-image, body dissatisfaction, and emotions. Social comparison processes may well underlie many of the social influence findings discussed in this special issue.
authors.affiliation: University of Toronto, Canada. Electronic address: polivy@psych.utoronto.ca.
authors.forename: Janet
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Polivy
authors.affiliation: University of Toronto, Canada.
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Pliner
mesh_terms: D001828:Body Image; D001835:Body Weight; D004435:Eating / Q000523:psychology*; D004644:Emotions; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D005518:Food Preferences / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D007100:Imitative Behavior; D008297:Male; D008402:Mass Media; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D012649:Self Concept; D012919:Social Behavior; D012931:Social Environment
keywords: Amount eaten; Body image; Restrained eaters; Social comparison; Social influence