Social Comparison Theory: Exploring Ways, Reasons, and Consequences

This essay delves into the realm of social comparison theory, a fundamental concept in psychology that elucidates how individuals evaluate themselves in relation to others. It explores the various reasons behind social comparisons, including the desire for self-improvement, the preservation of self-worth, and the enhancement of self-esteem. The essay examines the ways in which people engage in social comparisons, differentiating between upward comparisons (comparing oneself to those perceived as superior) and downward comparisons (comparing oneself to those perceived as inferior). It further investigates the beneficial consequences of social comparisons, such as the potential for increased self-esteem and positive feelings, while also acknowledging the detrimental effects, including the potential for decreased self-esteem and feelings of regret. The essay synthesizes these insights, emphasizing the pervasive nature of social comparison and its multifaceted impact on human behavior and well-being, providing a comprehensive understanding of the theory and its implications.

PSYCHOLOGICAL
THEORY

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................1
Ways in which and reason because of which people make social comparison using appropriate
psychological theory....................................................................................................................1
Beneficial and detrimental consequences of social comparisons................................................2
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................3
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................4

INTRODUCTION
Psychological theories help in providing a model that can be used to understand human
emotions, thoughts, and their behaviour (Park & Baek, 2018). There are various kinds of
psychological theories that can help in understanding human behaviour one of these theories is
social comparison theory that can directly help in understanding reason because of which people
make social comparisons. This essay will lay emphasis upon explanation of reason because of
which people make social comparisons. It will further explore beneficial and detrimental
consequences of these comparisons.
MAIN BODY
Ways in which and reason because of which people make social comparison using appropriate
psychological theory
It is a human tendency to compare themselves with others whether these comparisons are
in form of looks, intelligence, thinking, mentality, work, social status or any other type of
comparison (Gerber, Wheeler & Suls, 2018). It has been observed that dome of the main reason
because of which social comparisons are done by people in order to seek information for
bringing improvement within themselves, and sometimes for preserving their self-worth and for
enhancement of their self- esteem and their well- being.
In order to understand reason because of which people tend to compare themselves with
others it is important to understand psychology behind their way of thinking and behaviour.
There are various kinds of psychological theories that can be used to understand thinking,
behaviour and thinking of people. One of these theories is social comparison theory. Social
comparison theory helps in understanding that individuals tend to determine their own personal
and social worth on the basis of ways in which they stack up they’re against others. As per this
theory, people tend to make judgement about themselves in order to identify their self- worth and
one of the key way for doing this by doing social comparisons or by analysing oneself in relation
to others (Buunk & Schaufeli, 2018). It is one of the most important and basic human nature to
compare themselves with others in order to understand and evaluate their own skills, knowledge,
progress as well as their performance within a specific field as compared to others. This theory
says that social comparison by people is done for various reasons such as to reduce development
of negative feeling for oneself, for development of positive self- worth, to reduce feeling of
dissatisfaction etc. But this theory further helps in understanding that social comparison done by
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people is both positive and negative (upward or downward social comparison). It is important for
people to understand type of social comparison which is positive or upward and type of social
comparison which is negative or downward (Gerber, 2020). It is important for people to
understand because type of comparison because it can result in enhancement of self- worth or
development of feeling of jealousy for others etc. depending upon type of social comparison
which is being done by others.
Social comparison theory says that upward social comparison are those type of
comparison in which a person tend to compare themselves with people who are better than them
so that they can bring improvement within themselves. Whereas, downward social comparison is
a type of comparison in which people tend to compare themselves with people who are worse off
them. This type of comparison is done by people so that they can feel much better for
themselves. With the help of these two types of comparison it can be said that some of the most
important reason because of which people tend to do social comparison is to understanding
factors in which they need to bring improvement within oneself, things that they want to achieve
for themselves, feel better about themselves, enhance their self-respect, self- worth as well as
self-respect. Sometimes social comparison is also done to enhance satisfaction level.
According to Gentina, Huarng & Sakashita, (2018) social comparison theory can be used
for marriage or relationship counselling so that issues or problems between two people can be
resolved easily and they can understand importance and strength of their relationship.
Beneficial and detrimental consequences of social comparisons
Social comparison has numerous consequences that can be faced by people due to this
comparison. Some of the main beneficial consequences of social comparison are: It can many
times result in enhancement of one’s own self esteem. For example when a person achieve
something worthy and compare themselves from someone much lower than then then it can
enhance that person’s self- esteem. It can further benefit in development of positive feeling about
on-self and for others for example, When a self-sufficient person who have almost everything
which is required by them and then compare with a person who is in miserable condition than it
can result in development of positive feeling for oneself can further enhance their overall
satisfaction.
Some of the main detrimental consequences of social comparisons: Social comparison can
directly impact self-esteem of an individual especially when comparison is done to a person who
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is always on top and above that individual. This can degrade overall self- esteem of an
individual. It can further result in feeling of regret. This c feeling can e developed when one’s
own negative outcome is compared to other positive outcomes or positive achievement then it
can result in development of feeling of regrets. For example, when a women have a hair cut and
length of hairs made too short and when those same women compare her hair to a long silky
haired women then it can result in development of feeling of regret.
CONCLUSION
From the above essay it has been summarized that social comparison is one of the most
common things which is done by almost every individual. It is human nature or behaviour to
compare themselves or their things or situation with others in order to enhance their self- worth.
There are various kinds of psychological theories that can be used to understand reason because
of which human do social comparison bur social comparison theory is one of the bet theory that
can help in understand ways in which human do social comparisons and reason because which
they do it.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Buunk, B. P., & Schaufeli, W. B. (2018). Burnout: A perspective from social comparison theory.
In Professional burnout: Recent developments in theory and research (pp. 53-69). CRC
Press.
Gentina, E., Huarng, K. H., & Sakashita, M. (2018). A social comparison theory approach to
mothers' and daughters' clothing co-consumption behaviors: A cross-cultural study in
France and Japan. Journal of Business Research, 89, 361-370.
Gerber, J. P. (2020). Social comparison theory. Encyclopedia of personality and individual
differences, 5004-5011.
Gerber, J.P., Wheeler, L. & Suls, J., (2018). A social comparison theory meta-analysis 60+ years
on. Psychological bulletin, 144(2), p.177.
Park, S. Y., & Baek, Y. M. (2018). Two faces of social comparison on Facebook: The interplay
between social comparison orientation, emotions, and psychological well-
being. Computers in Human Behavior, 79, 83-93.
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