Table 1.
Summary of studies included for the meta‐analysis focusing on downward and upward social comparisons
| Study | N | Contrast | No. of foci |
|---|---|---|---|
| Downward Social Comparison | |||
| Assaf et al. [2009] | 19 | Self‐gain/other‐lost > Self‐lost/other‐gain | 12 |
| Beyer et al. [2014a] | 40 | Self‐won/other‐lost > Self‐lost/other‐won | 12 |
| Beyer et al. [2014b] | 41 | Self‐won/other‐lost > Self‐lost/other‐won | 3 |
| Brunnlieb et al. [2013] | 15 | Self‐won/other‐lost > Self‐lost/other‐won | 25 |
| Cikara et al. [2011] | 18 | Favored team's success/rival team's failure > control | 9 |
| Delgado et al. [2008] | 17 | Self‐gain/other‐lost > Self‐lost/other‐gain | 5 |
| Du et al. [2013] | 19 | Self‐won/others‐lost > self‐lost/others‐won | 12 |
| Dvash et al. [2010] | 16 | Relative gain > relative loss | 6 |
| Emmerling et al. [2016] | 15 | Self‐won/other‐lost > Self‐lost/other‐won | 9 |
| Fareri and Delgado [2014] | 18 | Self‐won/others‐lost > self‐lost/others‐won: social > non‐social | 8 |
| Fliessbach et al. [2007] | 33 | Self‐won/other‐lost > self‐lost/other‐won + self‐lost/other‐lost | 8 |
| Fliessbach et al. [2012] | 64 | Self‐won/other‐lost > self‐lost/other‐won + self‐lost/other‐lost | 2 |
| Haruno & Frith [2010] | 52 | Parametric analysis, positive correlation with absoluate differences between two peoeple (self > other) | 4 |
| Hertz et al. [2017] | 19 | better performance (positive merit) > worse performance (negative merit) | 3 |
| Kang et al. [2013] | 22 | Parametric analysis, positive correlation with relative income | 7 |
| Kätsyri et al. [2012] | 17 | Self‐won/other‐lost > self‐lost/other‐won: human > computer | 2 |
| Krämer et al. [2007] | 15 | Self‐won/other‐lost > Self‐lost/other‐won | 15 |
| Kishida et al. [2012] | 27 | parametric analysis, positive correlated with change of self's rank | 2 |
| Le Bouc and Pessiglione [2013] | 32 | Parametric analysis, positive correlation with relative income | 2 |
| Lindner et al. [2014] | 30 | Performed better > performed worse; parametric analysis, positive correlation with performance deviations in downward comparisons | 12 |
| Ligneul et al. [2016] | 28 | win > loss compared to another‐ win > loss in control condition | 9 |
| Mobbs et al. [2013] | 15 | Self‐won/other‐lost > Self‐lost/other‐won | 1 |
| Morawetz at al. [2014] | 28 | Self‐won/other‐lost > Self‐lost/other‐won | 5 |
| Op de Macks et al. [2016] | 58 | higher social hierarchy > monetary gain | 2 |
| Steinbeis and Singer [2014] | 45 | Parametric analysis, positive correlation with experienced Schadenfreude (Self‐won/other‐lost > Self‐won/other‐won) | 7 |
| van den Bos et al. [2013] | 40 | Self‐won/others‐lost > Self‐not‐won/other‐won | 2 |
| Votinov et al. [2015] | 69 | Self‐gain/other‐no gain > self loss/other‐no loss; self‐no loss/other‐loss > self‐no gain/other‐gain | 65 |
| Zink et al. [2008] | 24 | Self‐won/other‐lost > Self‐lost/other‐lost | 17 |
| Upward Social Comparison | |||
| Baumgartner et al. [2011] | 32 | disadvantageous outcomes > equal outcomes | 17 |
| Beyer et al. [2014a] | 40 | Self‐lost/other‐won > Self‐won/other‐lost | 7 |
| Beyer et al. [2014b] | 41 | Self‐lost/other‐won > Self‐won/other‐lost | 5 |
| Cikara et al. [2011] | 18 | Favored team's failure/rival team's success > control | 3 |
| Civai et al. [2012] | 19 | disadvantageous outcomes > equal outcomes | 12 |
| Corradi‐Dell'Acqua et al. [2016] | 19 | disadvantageous outcomes > equal outcomes | 21 |
| Emmerling et al. [2016] | 15 | Self‐lost/other‐won > Self‐won/other‐lost | 4 |
| Fatfouta et al. [2016] | 23 | disadvantageous outcomes > equal outcomes | 18 |
| Farmer et al. [2016] | 18 | disadvantageous outcomes > equal outcomes | 6 |
| Feng et al. [2016] | 40 | disadvantageous outcomes > equal outcomes | 10 |
| Fliessbach et al. [2012] | 64 | disadvantageous outcomes > equal outcomes | 1 |
| Gospic et al. [1983] | 17 | disadvantageous outcomes > equal outcomes | 4 |
| Gradin et al. [2015] | 25 | disadvantageous outcomes > equal outcomes | 10 |
| Guo et al. [2013a] | 18 | disadvantageous outcomes > equal outcomes | 10 |
| Guo et al. [2013b] | 21 | disadvantageous outcomes > equal outcomes | 13 |
| Güroğlu et al. [2011] | 68 | disadvantageous outcomes > equal outcomes | 9 |
| Halko et al. [2009] | 23 | disadvantageous outcomes > equal outcomes | 22 |
| Harlé and Sanfey [2012] | 38 | disadvantageous outcomes > equal outcomes | 12 |
| Haruno & Frith [2010] | 52 | Parametric analysis, positive correlation with absoluate differences between two peoeple (other > self) | 9 |
| Haruno et al. [2014] | 62 | parametric analysis, positive correlation with disadvantageous outcomes | 4 |
| Hu et al. [2016] | 23 | disadvantageous outcomes > equal outcomes | 4 |
| Kirk et al. [2011] | 40 | disadvantageous outcomes > equal outcomes | 11 |
| Kirk et al. [2016] | 50 | parametric analysis, positive correlation with disadvantageous level | 11 |
| Kishida et al. [2012] | 27 | parametric analysis, negaitive correlated with change of self's rank | 2 |
| Krämer et al. [2007] | 15 | Self‐lost/other‐won > Self‐won/other‐lost | 2 |
| Lamichhane et al. [2014] | 18 | disadvantageous outcomes > equal outcomes | 3 |
| Lindner et al. [2014] | 30 | Performed worse > performed better | 16 |
| Lingeul et al. [2017] | 28 | superior other > inferior other | 2 |
| Op de Macks et al. [2016] | 58 | lower social hierarchy > monetary loss | 1 |
| Roalf [2010] | 27 | disadvantageous outcomes > equal outcomes | 8 |
| Sanfey et al. [2003] | 19 | disadvantageous outcomes > equal outcomes | 17 |
| Servaas et al. [2015] | 114 | disadvantageous outcomes > equal outcomes | 32 |
| Steinbeis and Singer [2014] | 45 | Parametric analysis, positive correlation with experienced Envy (Self‐lost/other‐won > Self‐lost/other‐lost) | 2 |
| Takahashi et al. [2009] | 19 | Superior others (high related) > average others; Superior others (low related)> average others | 2 |
| van den Bos et al. [2013] | 40 | Self‐not‐won/other‐won > Self‐won/others‐lost | 4 |
| Verdejo‐García et al. [2015a] | 19 | disadvantageous outcomes > equal outcomes | 4 |
| Verdejo‐García et al. [2015b] | 44 | disadvantageous outcomes > equal outcomes | 13 |
| White et al. [2013] | 20 | parametric analysis, positive correlation with disadvantageous level | 8 |
| White et al. [2014] | 21 | parametric analysis, positive correlation with disadvantageous level | 7 |
| Wu et al. [2014a, 2014b] | 18 | parametric analysis, negative correlation with subjective utility | 7 |
| Wu et al. [2015] | 27 | disadvantageous outcomes > equal outcomes | 1 |
| Zheng et al. [2015] | 25 | disadvantageous outcomes > equal outcomes | 15 |
| Self‐unequal/other‐equal > Self‐unequal/other‐unequal | 15 | ||
| Zhou et al. [2014] | 28 | disadvantageous outcomes > equal outcomes | 4 |
| Zink et al. [2008] | 24 | Self‐lost/other‐won > Self‐lost/other‐lost | 10 |
N, number of subjects.