Festinger’s Social Comparison Theory

Have you ever heard the expression “comparisons are hateful?” The reality is that there are many people who tend to constantly compare themselves with others. But he already talked about something similar Leon Festinger, social psychologist, in his theory of social comparison (1954).

In this article we will learn what this theory consists of, and how we compare ourselves with others to evaluate our own opinions, capabilities and abilities.

Social comparison theory: characteristics

Social comparison theory (1954) was initially proposed by social psychologist Leon Festinger, and states that people We evaluate our own opinions, abilities and skills by comparing them with those of others It also seems that this is especially true in situations of uncertainty, in which it can be difficult to measure our ability objectively.

Thus, this theory is based on the belief that there is an impulse within individuals that motivates them to obtain rigorous self-evaluations.

Furthermore, social comparison theory attempts to explain How social factors influence self-concept

Similarity hypothesis

One of the most relevant hypotheses proposed by the theory of social comparison is the similarity hypothesis, according to which we prefer to compare ourselves with people similar to us but specify three points:

1. In capabilities

It states that we use a unidirectional upward impulse to compare ourselves to others; That is, when we evaluate our abilities, we compare ourselves with better people, for the desire to improve

2. In opinions

When it comes to evaluating our own opinions, we tend to compare ourselves to those who think differently; If, despite this, they coincide with our position, we perceive a feeling of self-affirmation regarding our opinion On the other hand, we experience hostility if we do not match.

3. In anxious situations

When faced with situations that generate anxiety, we tend to compare ourselves with people who are in the same situation as us, since that it makes us feel better understood and allows these people to empathize with us

For example, in an exam situation, we will surely compare ourselves with our classmates who also have to take the same exam, since that will make us feel more understood than if, for example, we talk to our parents about a situation that generates anxiety.

Need for self-assessment

To develop the theory of social comparison, L. Festinger took as a starting point the idea that people have a self-evaluative drive That is, you need to constantly evaluate your opinions and your capabilities.

Opinions and abilities often cannot be assessed through empirical observations. Furthermore, these are good or bad (or right/wrong) depending on who we compare ourselves to, i.e. according to the agreement or similarity that occurs and the comparison criteria what do we use.

Social comparison theory also explains why we think differently about ourselves depending on the nature of the comparison we make, and its meaning for us.

Premises

The theory of social comparison is based on two premises for its development:

On the one hand, the fact that evaluations of opinions or subjective abilities are stable when a comparison can be made with others, whose opinions or abilities are judged to be similar to one’s own.

On the other hand, the second premise establishes that a person she will feel less attracted to situations in which others are very different from her than by those where others are similar to her, both in abilities and opinions.

Repercussions on daily life

Social comparison theory also has implications for the impact of the media and in the idea that people have of themselves.

Thus, phrases like “comparisons are hateful” could partly explain some ideas of the theory, since if we compare ourselves with people better than us, we are more likely to feel worse than if we compare ourselves with people worse than us.

This last situation can increase our self-esteem, although in reality it does so in an artificial way, since a real improvement in self-esteem implies deeper changes and does not require comparing yourself to anyone.

Reflection

Extrapolating the aforementioned phrase to other examples, we can think about the influence of the model prototype, which is based on an extremely thin woman; This can cause significant problems for the self-esteem of certain women, which even lead to develop eating disorders such as anorexia.

Likewise, the fact that the prototypical male models are strong, hypermuscled men can also affect the self-esteem of men who do not look the same and constantly compare themselves.

As already mentioned, we insist that self-esteem must be based more on a comparison with oneself than with others, so that it can truly be positive and satisfying. In that sense, the objective to achieve a good degree of personal well-being is not to try to compare yourself with anyone, but to try to value the positive things about yourself.

Another Festinger theory

L. Festinger’s second theory, also fundamental in social psychology, is the theory of cognitive dissonance This theory establishes that a feeling of dissonance is generated in us when our beliefs conflict with what we do.

The internal state of tension that is generated motivates us to eliminate such dissonance and actively avoid situations and information that may increase it.

This theory can be related to the theory of social comparison in relation to ideas that clash with our self-concept and give us a more negative image of ourselves.