Social Psychology - Social Comparison
N. Lagunas February 20, 2014
Social Psychology Social Comparison Theory
We often do not realize we compare ourselves to those around us weather it is at work, school, or at the grocery store. Let’s say you go grocery shopping at Food 4 Less, and there is a person in front of you and the cashier tells him the amount due and asks him if he would like to donate to the Children’s Memorial Hospital, the man says no thank you and leaves. You are next in line, and now it is your turn to pay and the cashier also asks you if you would like to donate to the Children’s Memorial Hospital and you smile and say yes five dollars. How did that make you feel when the guy in front of you did not donate money, but you did? You felt awesome. But, while you are still bagging your food you overheard, the cashier asking the women behind you if she would like to donate money to the Children’s Memorial Hospital and the person says yes I would like to donate 20 dollars. What would your reaction be if you only donated 5 dollars and the women behind you donated 20 dollars? In my response paper, I will be explaining what the social comparison theory is.
Leon Festinger, a psychologist, first proposed the theory of social comparison in 1954. Social comparison theory is the idea that we learn about our own abilities and attitudes by comparing ourselves to other people (Aronson, 137). He believed that we participated in this comparison process as a way of forming a standard by which we can make precise evaluations of ourselves. As an example in the beginning when you were in line and the cashier asked the person in front weather or not they would like to donate some money to the Children’s Memorial Hospital they said no. You compared yourself to that man that he wasn’t nice or generous but by saying yes to the cashier you felt better than the man in front of you. There are two types of social comparison upward comparison and downward comparison. Upward comparison
Social Psychology Social Comparison Theory
We often do not realize we compare ourselves to those around us weather it is at work, school, or at the grocery store. Let’s say you go grocery shopping at Food 4 Less, and there is a person in front of you and the cashier tells him the amount due and asks him if he would like to donate to the Children’s Memorial Hospital, the man says no thank you and leaves. You are next in line, and now it is your turn to pay and the cashier also asks you if you would like to donate to the Children’s Memorial Hospital and you smile and say yes five dollars. How did that make you feel when the guy in front of you did not donate money, but you did? You felt awesome. But, while you are still bagging your food you overheard, the cashier asking the women behind you if she would like to donate money to the Children’s Memorial Hospital and the person says yes I would like to donate 20 dollars. What would your reaction be if you only donated 5 dollars and the women behind you donated 20 dollars? In my response paper, I will be explaining what the social comparison theory is.
Leon Festinger, a psychologist, first proposed the theory of social comparison in 1954. Social comparison theory is the idea that we learn about our own abilities and attitudes by comparing ourselves to other people (Aronson, 137). He believed that we participated in this comparison process as a way of forming a standard by which we can make precise evaluations of ourselves. As an example in the beginning when you were in line and the cashier asked the person in front weather or not they would like to donate some money to the Children’s Memorial Hospital they said no. You compared yourself to that man that he wasn’t nice or generous but by saying yes to the cashier you felt better than the man in front of you. There are two types of social comparison upward comparison and downward comparison. Upward comparison