• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.81-94
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• 2019

Social media is an essential part of everyday life in modern society and plays an important role in communicating the ideal body image. With the increased prevalence and high popularity of social media, the problems associated with the addictive use of social media have become a social issue. Utilizing social comparison theory, this study examined (1) the effect of appearance related photo activities on body satisfaction through appearance comparison and (2) the moderating effect of Instagram addiction in relationships among appearance related photo activity, appearance comparison, and body satisfaction. We tested the proposed relationships between research variables using multi-group structural equation modeling analysis on a sample of 346 young female Instagram users. The sample was divided into two groups of high and low addicted Instagram users. The results of this study showed that the appearance related photo activity positively influenced appearance comparison for both high and low addiction groups. For the high addiction group, the effect of appearance comparison on body satisfaction was not statistically significant; however, this relationship was significant and negative for the low addiction group. A significant moderating effect of Instagram addiction was found in the relationship between appearance related photo activity and appearance comparison.

• The Journal of Society for e-Business Studies
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.59-77
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• 2015

Social networking sites (SNS), such as Facebook, provide abundant social comparison opportunities. Given the widespread use of SNSs, the purpose of the present study was to examine the impact of exposure to social media-based social comparison on user's negative emotions and discontinuous use intention on SNS. We present evidence that under the use of SNS, social comparison activities diverge into three patterns, with explicit self-evaluation desire made against similar target (lateral comparison), self-defense desire made against less fortunate target (downward comparison), and self-enhancement desire made with more fortunate target (upward comparison). Such social comparison processes frequently arise, as people are increasingly using on SNSs, the downward contacts ameliorating self-esteem with positive emotions, but the upward contacts and standard contacts with lateral status enabling a person to compare his or her situation with others and simultaneously increase negative emotions due to its differences with others. In other words, as people increasingly relying on SNSs for a variety of everyday tasks, they risk overexposure to upward or standard social comparison information that may have a cumulative detrimental impact on future intention on SNS use. This study with survey with 209 SNS users found that these negative emotions lead to negative fatigue (attitude) and then discontinuous use intention (behavior) on SNS. Our findings are among the first to explicitly examine discontinuous use intention on SNS using social comparison theory and our results are consistent with those of past research showing that upward social comparisons can be detrimental.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.957-968
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• 2001

The purpose of this study was to extend the social comparison theory in an attempt to examine the effect of TV media on adolescent body images. The research was a survey and the subjects were 895 male and female adolescents in Taejon, Korea. The measuring instruments were 2 sets of stimuli of male and female body silhouettes and self-administrated questionnaire. Results were as follows: 1) The subjects TV viewing periods were 3∼4 hours per day and their involvements in TV media were moderate degree. 2) The results of perceptual body images showed that adolescent favored thin body type as an ideal body and had distorting tendency that their bodies were larger than the actual sizes. 3) The results of attitudinal body images showed three factors such as \"appearance evaluation\", \"appearance orientation\", and \"fitness orientation\". 4) TV media had significant effects on perceptual and attitudinal body images. It is concluded that the results of this study support social comparison theory that people compare themselves to others to satisfy their needs for self-evaluation and for judgments of their own personal worth since TV media give strong influence on adolescents through presenting social comparison models to body images.

• Journal of the HCI Society of Korea
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.5-15
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• 2018

The biggest characteristic of Social Network Game(SNG) is that games are played through competition and cooperation with the actual acquaintances based on SNS. Even though such competition and challenge spirit have been dealt importantly as preceding factors having influence on the flow in games in the existing game area, it is rare to find researches deeply considering the characteristics of ranking competition between acquaintances in SNG. Moreover, it was not considered that such acquaintances could be the targets of competition and also challenge at the same time in SNG. Therefore, this study examined the achievements(big differences in ranking, small differences in ranking) of the targets for comparison and closeness(strong ties, weak ties) with the targets for comparison as factors having influence on competition and challenge spirit, and also empirically analyzed the influence of such factors and interactions between factors on players' competition and challenge spirit in the ranking competitive society, by analyzing the characteristics of ranking competition between acquaintances in the mobile puzzle, SNG based on SNS through the analysis on the preceding research on the self-evaluation maintenance model of the social comparison theory. In the results, when preferentially exposing competitors with small difference in ranking and also exposing competitors with stronger ties, players' competition is stimulated, so that it can improve their challenge spirit. Such results of this study can be expected to a lot contribute to the actual design work of SNG ranking table contents.

• Journal of Korean Society of Industrial and Systems Engineering
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.24-38
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• 2018

Since a social networking service (SNS) isconsidered as an effective means to communicate and interact with customers, companies are trying to utilize SNS effectively. There is a lack of theory relating to the attributes of SNS. This study aims to investigate the attributes of SNS to classify SNS. Based on the social network theory, and previous studies on internet, blog, homepage, communication attributes, this study proposes the seven attributes to classify SNS: interaction, communication, entertainment, information, sharing, intimacy and connection. A pre-test, a pilot test and a main test are conducted. In the main test, 239 SNS users are participated. Through a factor analysis this study verifies the seven attributes of SNS. An analysis of variance with multiple comparisons of $Scheff{\acute{e}}$ method identifies that three attributes, interaction, communication and connection, are found to play significant roles to differentiate SNS. Looking at the overall mean values of the SNS by attribute, interaction, sharing, entertainment, intimacy and communication were relatively high in Facebook. Facebook showed higher values in attributes of interaction, sharing, entertainment, intimacy and communication. Twitter shows the relatively high scores for information and connection. Regarding interaction, Facebook shows higher scores than Twitter and Cyworld. For connection, Cyworld showed a significantly lower score than Twitter and Facebook. Cyworld was separated from the others in the light of communication. Cyworld is relatively weak in communication as it is limited to the message exchanges. The results will help in identifying major attributes for each SNS and classifying SNS.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.97-121
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• 2011

This study aims to examine how motivational constructs are interrelated with social, context-specific factors and, as a result, contribute to L2 writing achievement within the framework of self-determination theory. The data consisted of 67 Korean college students' questionnaire responses, final scores in an on-offline blended writing course, and qualitative interviews with 5 students. In the descriptive and the correlation analyses, the participants' extrinsic motivation was found higher than intrinsic motivation, with low amotivation. Among social factors, immersion environment, foreign instructor, and peer comparison marked high scores, whereas Korean instructor and online material gained low scores. Those contextual factors were interrelated with each other, such that the immersion factor correlated significantly with Korean instructor and peer comparison. Extrinsic and intrinsic motivational subscales engendered strong correlations with the high-scored social factors, i.e., immersion, foreign instructor, and peer comparison, which were also closely interrelated with L2 writing achievement. The findings illuminate intricate workings of motivation in its effects on L2 achievement and corroborate the roles of contextual factors. The effect of motivational subscales on achievement may be valid through interplay with some social factors. The dynamics of motivation is discussed for pedagogical applications.

• Asia Marketing Journal
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.99-116
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• 2013

This study examines whether product promotions are influenced by the market standing of promoted products, using social comparison theory (upward versus downward comparisons). It is hypothesized that people in possession of a product that is inferior to the one on promotion express less discomfort about the promotion and use the information more than do people in possession of a superior product. People in possession of an inferior product may also exhibit more positive attitudes toward the product on promotion, but may show poorer attitudes toward their own possessed product than do people with a superior product. This is because people in an inferior socioeconomic position show a strong motivation to improve themselves through upward social comparison, whereas people in a superior socioeconomic position maintain a strong sense of superiority in downward social comparison, which suggests strong endowment effects. The findings mainly support the hypotheses, and suggest that sales promotions are more effective for people who currently own an inferior product, but not for people with a superior product, who have a strong motivation to maintain their sense of superiority. The findings also imply that, in order to attract consumers in the superior market, managers for inferior products need to turn to methods other than sales promotions, which may include introducing a new brand or sub-brand, or emphasizing luxury and modern features. In contrast, managers for superior products may emphasize product functions and attributes of superior products in their promotions, as people with inferior products may consider such information as benefits of the superior products.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Costume
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• v.62 no.2
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• pp.122-135
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• 2012

The purpose of this study is to figure out what the beauty of the modern body means and symbolizes from the aesthetic, sociocultural, and psychological perspectives and to investigate how it was formed in the modern Korean society. The data were obtained from the magazines and newspapers published from 1920 to 1939 and analyzed by qualitative content analysis. The results were as follows: First, the modern body from an aesthetic standpoint was characterized by the beauty of westernization, healthy body shape, sensuality, curvaceousness, activity, balance and harmony, and artificiality. The beauty of the modern body from a sociocultural perspective symbolized modern culture and implied the value evaluated by visual appearance. Therefore, the modern body became an object of consumption and the physical capital that gave women chances for their social success and happy marriages. The beauty of the modern body from a psychological viewpoint expressed individuality as a modern ego. Second, the formation of modern body esthetics was explained within the context of social comparison theory. The ideal body suggested by mass media was internalized as the aesthetic standard women used to create modern bodies and with which they compared their created bodies.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.14 no.10
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• pp.165-178
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• 2016

Purpose - This study aims to empirically verify the impact of media richness, social presence, and prior life satisfaction on various continual usage or withdrawal behaviors of SNS users via both a positive path of satisfaction and a negative path of relative deprivation. By identifying these causal paths, we observe dynamic interactions of SNS user psychology in a balanced view, and provide some implications about design principles for SNS providers. Research design, data, and methodology - We developed 16 hypothesis based on media richness theory, social presence theory, social comparison theory, the literature about relative deprivation, and the literature about the various reactions of IS users. The rich SNS media, social presence recognition among peer SNS users, and prior life satisfaction could generate positive experience, attitude, and virtuous behavioral intentions among SNS users. At the same time, rich media, low social presence, and low prior life satisfaction could generate relative deprivation and could increase withdrawal behavioral intentions such as refusal to provide information, misrepresentation of information, and removal of uploaded information in SNS. Scenario surveys were conducted to collect data from potential SNS users. Data from 357 surveys were collected and analyzed through a PLS algorithm to test the hypotheses. Results - Media richness, social presence, and prior life satisfaction could significantly increase perceived enjoyment, satisfaction, and behavioral intention of continual usage and knowledge sharing. They also could significantly decrease refusal and misrepresentation intention. Relative deprivation is significantly decreased only by prior life satisfaction. Relative deprivation could not significantly decrease satisfaction, but it could significantly increase misrepresentation and removal intention, which could be regarded as information distortion intention. Conclusions - SNS providers should focus on developing rich media and social presence support because these two variables could impact the positive experiences of SNS users. Moreover, the positive experiences could heavily influence SNS user behavior. Some management is needed to prevent relative deprivation and its consequences of misrepresentation and removal intention. SNS providers should prevent SNS users from excessive image misrepresentation and removal as this information distortion could be the source of relative deprivation.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.22 no.8
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• pp.77-86
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• 2024

Purpose: This study investigates the psychological mechanisms of comparison within the design context of retail stores, products, and advertising. The research aims to expand the understanding of comparison psychology, encompassing social, cognitive, perceptual, and self-comparisons and their application in design practices. Research Design, Data, and Methodology: The study employs a comprehensive review of psychological theories related to comparison psychology. They were selected through extensive research on literature pertaining to design psychology and consumer behavior. The research integrates insights from psychology, marketing, consumer behavior, and design theory, supported by various design examples of retail stores, products, and advertising, to demonstrate the practical applications. Results: The findings reveal that comparison psychology significantly impacts consumer preferences and user experiences. For instance, the assimilation effect and prospect theory highlight how comparisons shape value judgments and design perceptions. Practical examples are used to illustrate the profound influence of comparative judgments in design. Conclusion: The study advocates for a "psychologically-informed approach" to design, promoting designs that are not only aesthetically pleasing and functionally sound but also psychologically aligned. By bridging the gap between psychological theories and practical design implementations, the research provides valuable insights for designers, marketers, and psychologists, enhancing the psychological efficacy of design.