Is the grass always greener on the other side? Social comparisons of subjective well-being

Abstract

This study investigates subjective well-being (SWB) among residents of Munich (n = 380) and Venice (n = 545) with respect to their individual SWB and their judgments of SWB for residents of their own city and those living in the other city. Our results indicate that egocentrism rather than striving for self-enhancement guided people's judgments of SWB. For people with low individual SWB, a below-average effect was found, whereas for people with high individual SWB, a better-than-average effect emerged. Also in line with the egocentrism approach, judgments of individual SWB were positively related to the judgments of SWB for residents of their own city, but unrelated to SWB of those living in the other city. Implications for future research are discussed.

Keywords:

• Subjective well-being
• satisfaction with life
• social comparisons