Social Comparison Theory Of Social Identity

Our identity is the makeup of the qualities, personality, looks, and expressions that make each person unique. There are several sub-categories to your identity that relate the different aspects of your life and environment how your surroundings affect your identity ranging from individual identities to collective identities of groups, to stigmatized identities. One way we identify is through social aspects of our lives, this is called social identity. Social identity is defined as the part of a person’s self-concept that is based on his or her identification with a nation, religious or political group, occupation, or other social affiliation (Arsonson, Wilson, Akert, & Sommers, 2013). How a person identifies can impact different areas of psychological
competence such as: motivation, knowledge, perception, memory, personality and emotions (Little, 2008). The concepts listed above can impact other things within psychology. A person’s emotions can make them more prone to mental illness and so on. A large factor that can affect your social identity is explained by the social comparison theory, its connection to mental illnesses, and the effect of social media on identity and mental illnesses.
FINDINGS:
Research findings prove that there is an increase in mental illnesses (Dreher, 2018).
Since 2012 mental illnesses has increased by 3% ("The State of Mental Health in America", 2017), but there is no clear connection as to why it is rising. Could this spike be due to the rise of social media, allowing more social comparison? Social comparison theory is the idea that we learn about our own abilities and attitudes by comparing ourselves to other people (Aronson, Wilson, Akert, & Sommers, 2013). Social comparison is important in our lives because how we compare ourselves to other people can lead to poor self-esteem, mental illnesses, depression, eating disorders, anxiety or low self-confidence. Different comparison objects affect different illnesses. Depression has manifested in people that struggle with social comparison and self-image problems relating to weight interpretations, appearances, academic or professional success, sport performance and popularity. Eating disorders and other metal health disorders were mainly related to weight interpretations and general success in life (Hal,
2017).
Over the years social media has become the main form of communication for many people.
Now more than ever, people are seeing all aspects of the lives of people surrounding them. Some young people online have mentioned how all their friends are getting married, starting families, getting new jobs, or getting accepted into graduate school while they still don’t know what they want to do with their life. These types comparisons can lead people to question their self-worth and self-image (Webber, 2017). This self-doubt can start in children as early as seven-years-old. A study done on social comparison and social media, specifically the site Pinterest, has explained a link between users who follow fitness based profiles and more likely to engage in extreme weight loss (Ghaznavi & Taylor, 2015). Pinterest users can post pictures for fitness inspiration, but these photos have specific guidelines that are to be followed to prevent users from posting images that promote self-harm, however not everybody follows the rules and post these pictures anyway (Tiggemann & Zaccardo, 2015). Users who want to post “thinspiration” photos (photos to inspire weight loss) will post them using “fitspiration.” Thus, Users who decide not to follow the rules have created unintended negative views for other users who may compare themselves to these photos and feel insufficient. Academic articles have speculated that social media may contribute to body dysmorphia, upward social comparison, depression,
low self-esteem and eating disorders (Chrisler, Fung, Lopez, & Gorman, 2013) (Perloff, 2014).
Social comparison is divided into two major parts. Downward social comparison which is when we positively compare ourselves to others to make us feel better and have a sense of worth, and upward social comparison which is negatively comparing ourselves to other people usually leading to negative moods (Lewallen & Behm-Morawitz, 2016). In one survey they found that women on social media were more likely to upward compare themselves to others, leading to higher levels of negative moods, higher levels of body dissatisfaction, higher rates of eating disorder symptoms and more diminished beliefs about their own appearances (Bessenoff, 2006).
CONCLUSION
As of yet, research done on social identity, social comparison, and mental illnesses have failed to find a connection between these variables, despite it’s important linkage. This does not mean, however, that there is no linkage but rather that more research needs to be conducted. Social comparison and social identity are a very important aspect of mental health and with the rise of social media it is more important than ever to determine the link between poor mental health and upward social comparison. Even though there needs to be more research done on this topic, social comparison and social media research is suggesting there is a link. I hypothesize that social comparison combined with social media isn’t good for your mental health and can have a high probability of leading to mental illnesses.