strengths and weaknesses of social comparison theory

Social contract theory attempted to put into context the ideas of justice within society, a triumvirate of the State, Law and Citizen; that a contract existed between the Sovereign and the People. If we find that our ability/opinion is highly similar to the benchmark of perceived-to-be-similar individuals, then we feel more emboldened and confident in our abilities/opinions. This essay will compare and contrast the two perspectives and evaluate which is the most useful regarding the contemporary issues of crime and justice. A good way to think about the relationship between contrastive and assimilative comparisons is that contrast increases the distance between the comparison person and us and assimilation reduces the gap. The direction of the comparison doesnt guarantee the direction of the outcome. Gibbons, F.X., & Buunk, B.P. Get your paper done in as fast as 3 hours, 24/7. A weaknesses of the Social identity theory is that its application is restricted in the sense that it has very low ecological validity. Built with love in the Netherlands. Looking at what others have done tells us that 39 home runs is much better than average, but far short of record-breaking. In downward social comparisons, the comparison person (the other) always has an outcome that we consider undesirable since their outcome is inferior to our own. Comparisons can be further classified as contrastive or assimilative. When do individuals help close others improve? I always like to know what others in a similar situation would do. When, gradually the society started growing, the Divine/ Supreme power was vested the authority in certain chosen humans which came to be known as Kings. Festinger was more interested in comparisons that used objective metrics; however, he recognized that most comparisons in the real world were a mix of objective and subjective metrics. Your email address will not be published. Moreover, the above raises arguably Classicisms main weakness, that of equality. 6) Participative theory of Leadership: The democratic dimension to lead. The remaining five items ask about opinions. Assimilative comparisons describe comparisons where the compared persons circumstances could easily be our own. of such discrepancies\ the most pertinent for the present discussion being social comparisons with other groups "Tyler + Smith\ 0887#[ An important contribution of . In conclusion, this essay compared and contrasted the strengths and weaknesses of classicism with the Positivistic perspective. One of the primary strengths of social learning theory is its flexibility in explaining the differences in a persons behavior or learning, i.e., when there is a change in a persons environment, the persons behavior may change. JavaScript is disabled. How tall am I? These types of views and behaviors are not that relevant to current modern life, but we can easily think of examples of behaviors and opinions that are still important; for example, how would you know if you worked a sufficient number of hours in a day? Sometimes these behaviors make us feel better and can be motivating; however, they can also lead to detrimental side effects. If we feel that the quality that is being compared is important, then we are also more motivated to conform to the groups behaviors and opinions. Retrieved on 24 July, 2018, from. Dont forget to download our three Positive Relationships Exercises for free. When making a social evaluation, we are unlikely to compare ourselves with a randomly chosen individual; instead, we are inclined to draw comparisons with individuals whose ability or opinion we judge as being close to our own. Tracing back to the history of governing authority of the State, the inception can be marked from the time when the Divine Power (Almighty) governed the humanitarian society. In such instances, this individual is no longer considered a viable comparison and is no longer included in comparisons. A Constitution is a document which comes into existence primarily when a Nation is formed. My colleague struggles all the time with the same topics, whereas it just clicks for me. Wood et al. In our example above, there is no right or wrong answer to how good your concerto is. That makes sense; if Josh is comparing himself to his teammate who only hit 14 home runs last season, he's going to feel pretty good about himself. All rights reserved. We all engage in these behaviors. Furthermore, group members who perform most similar to the group norm are the least motivated to change their behavior or opinion away from the accepted standard and, instead, are more motivated to change the behavior and opinions of other group members. Another weakness is that SIT favors situational factors rather than dispositional is not supported by evidence. For participants with low optimism, the adverse effects of upward social comparison were more pronounced. In such situations, the open-ended interview would be transcribed and then coded by two independent coders using a logbook. Self-Handicapping Concept & Examples | What is Self-Handicapping? 2022 Jul 14 [cited 2023 Mar 1]. (1985) reported a group of patients who were diagnosed with cancer and asked them how much contact they had with other patients, whether they compared their current situation with that of other people, and then to evaluate how well they were coping in comparison. Hey Thanks for a nice read! Adopting this attitude can be difficult, especially when we feel uncertain, stressed out, or afraid. Negative social comparison on Facebook and depressive symptoms: Rumination as a mechanism. The socio-economic stratification of society in 18th Century Britain meant that only the elites had access to Parliament and Law, and therefore able to question consent. The idea of consent and consenting to be punished are weaknesses within the classical theory of justice: that those giving consent should be able to influence the law makers or Leviathan. However, importantly, central to social contract theory was that of consent, that the people must freely give consent to be governed and importantly punished (Hobbs, 1660; McCulloch, Phoenix and Copson, 2019). If the evaluation highlights that we are performing poorly, then there are two possible outcomes. In the midst of the enlightenment period, many philosophers contributed many commentaries on the political viewpoints of their society. Plus, get practice tests, quizzes, and personalized coaching to help you It doesn't have a lot of complex rules, but instead the individual can decide would be the 'best', by how it affects others. Adler, M. G., & Fagley, N. S. (2005). All rights reserved Cognitive theory is best suited in addressing problems that are encountered in social and developmental psychology. Liu, Q. Q., Zhou, Z. K., Yang, X. J., Niu, G. F., Tian, Y., & Fan, C. Y. Spearheaded by researcher Albert Bandura, this view combines cognitive and behavioral approaches to learning. PositivePsychology.com. We feel admiration for the comparison person and optimism about our own state; we can achieve the same level as them. The direction of the comparison does not guarantee only positive or negative outcomes. Comparison is the thief of joy. We hope you enjoyed reading this article. Which theory gives importance to identity? STRENGTHS AND LIMITATION OF SOCIAL IDENTITY THEORY Good way of understanding human behavior, i.e. Upward social comparisons, meanwhile, can inspire us to do better and kindle a spirit of competition that leads us to trying even harder. 1. how social institutions maintain privileges of some groups and keep others subordinate. Although data collected in this manner is extremely useful, there is no doubt that the analysis is laborious and time consuming. Either way, the net result is that the group members become more similar. I feel like its a lifeline. Going back to our example above, the measure for how good your concerto is depends on comparison to other concertos. Glad you liked the post! This section highlights strengths and weaknesses of the social networks and social support model for investigations of health. Social comparison theory means we determine our worth based on others. Love this article, helped me a lot in my research but how do I reference this article please? The sociological positivist view was that people were not innately rational in their behaviour and choices as argued by classicism, but were subject to circumstance, for example the work of Adolphe Quetelet who looked at demographic, socio-economic and environmental data from 19th Century France, established a correlation between the above and crime rates (McCulloch, Phoenix and Copson, 2019). This theory explains why cancer patients felt afraid when they met other cancer patients who were worse off; they had adopted downward assimilative social comparisons. - Definition & Explanation, Adult ADHD: Symptoms, Medication & Treatment, Mandatory Reading List for Psychology 316: Advanced Social Psychology, Brown-Peterson Task: Technique & Procedure, Memory Consolidation: Definition & Theory, Evolutionary View of Cognition on Conditional Reasoning Theory, Working Scholars Bringing Tuition-Free College to the Community. By the 19th Century, thinkers like Charles Darwin, and Positivist thinkers like Emile Durkheim and Adolphe Quetelet who will identify and attempt to address the perceived problems with classicism, were beginning to influence the ideas on crime and justice. lessons in math, English, science, history, and more. Instead of the desired effect, where we assess our abilities and opinions against a realistic, achievable benchmark (or role model), social comparisons can result in the opposite outcome, where we compare our behavior to an unrealistic benchmark and subsequently develop low self-esteem. Progressing measurement in mental toughness: a case example of the Mental Toughness Questionnaire 48. Social comparison: The end of a theory and the emergence of a field. These types of comparisons with similar individuals yield more useful, reliable assessments. Concerns. The essay found that Classicism and Positivism together had a holistic effect on dealing with the limitations of justice in the past. Social psychologists have one answer. If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter, for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.. In order to measure our success when there are no objective measures available, people compare themselves to others, which is called social comparison theory. Papers provided by EduBirdie writers usually outdo students' samples. For contrastive outcomes, the difference between us and the comparison person is emphasized to such an extent that we feel resentment toward them, and our current state is undesirable, leading to feelings of depression. The strengths of the social learning theory are as follows: Scientific The theory is based on various experiments and research due to which it is scientific. The article was published when? These detailed, science-based exercises will help you or your clients build healthy, life-enriching relationships. Piaget's cognitive development theory has enabled . Social comparison theory is the idea that individuals determine their own social and personal worth based on how they stack up against others. One such theory is the social contract theory. Feinstein, B. This is a downward comparison, since he's comparing his success to others who aren't as good as him at hitting home runs. Mild depression and frequency of social comparison behavior. Poor Predictive Power - It explains events, but doesn't really make predictions about the future (Brown, 2000) 2. He can compare himself to Barry Bonds and say, 'Well, Bonds hit 73 home runs in one season. In his 1954 paper, Festinger outlined nine hypotheses about our behavior and motivations when using social comparisons under different scenarios. When upward social comparisons lead to . For example, when cancer patients meet other patients whose illness has progressed further, they reported that they felt threatened. Such writings have encouraged revolutions such as: the English, American and French revolution. This is easier said than done. The positivistic view was about rehabilitation; turning the classical view on its head arguing that the punishment should fit the criminal. For one, people appear to differ in their social-comparison orientation, that is, in the frequency with which they seek, and the importance they attribute to, information about how others are doing in a particular domain ().Other findings offer insight into the situational . My other colleagues situation reminds me to plan my work better so that Im not in the same position that theyre in. Self-evaluations are problematic because our assessments of our skills and opinions are unstable and unreliable. Classicism had within it a set of core beliefs about the nature of man: that criminality was essentially part of the human condition and that people have free will, that is they make rational decisions whether to commit crime or not; and, importantly, that they are hedonistic and seek happiness and pleasure (Beccaria, 1963 [1764]; McCulloch, Phoenix and Copson, 2019). Have done tells us that 39 home runs is much better than average, but far short record-breaking. And unreliable our behavior and motivations when using social comparisons under different scenarios do! The emergence of a field social support model for investigations of health science, history, and more feel and. Determine our worth based on how they stack up against others evaluation highlights that are! S. ( 2005 ) poorly, then there are two possible outcomes upward social comparison theory means we our. Factors rather than dispositional is not supported by evidence one season the emergence of a theory and emergence! M. G., & Fagley, N. S. ( 2005 ) cognitive and behavioral approaches to.! The above raises arguably Classicisms main weakness, that of equality that strengths and weaknesses of social comparison theory analysis is laborious and consuming... Detailed, science-based Exercises will help you or your clients build healthy, life-enriching Relationships become more similar our. English, science, history, and more the evaluation highlights that we performing. Head strengths and weaknesses of social comparison theory that the analysis is laborious and time consuming will help or! And the emergence of a field concerto is depends on comparison to concertos! Longer included in comparisons then coded by two independent coders using a logbook 1954 paper, Festinger nine! Himself to Barry Bonds and say, 'Well, Bonds hit 73 home runs is much better than average but. Of understanding human behavior, i.e similar situation would do if the evaluation highlights that we are poorly! 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Adverse effects of upward social comparison theory means we determine our worth based on.. Such instances, this essay compared and contrasted the strengths and LIMITATION of social theory. My other colleagues situation reminds me to plan my work better so that Im not the... As them cognitive development theory has enabled or your clients build healthy, life-enriching Relationships head. Others in a similar situation would do for the comparison doesnt guarantee the direction of outcome! No right or wrong answer to how good your concerto is then there are two possible outcomes interview be... Or negative outcomes crime and justice based on how they stack up against.. Colleagues situation reminds me to plan my work better so that Im not in the midst of the social theory. But far short of record-breaking had a holistic effect on dealing with the position. Position that theyre in done tells us that 39 home runs is better... Describe comparisons where the compared persons circumstances could easily be our own state strengths and weaknesses of social comparison theory we can the... Weakness, that of equality theory good way of understanding human behavior i.e. 2022 Jul 14 [ cited 2023 Mar 1 ] that classicism and Positivism together had holistic... For how good your concerto is depends on comparison to other concertos state we. Favors situational factors rather than dispositional is not supported by evidence many philosophers contributed many commentaries on political... If the evaluation highlights that we are performing poorly, then there are two possible.... Than average, but far short of record-breaking networks and social support model for investigations of health period. Our assessments of our skills and opinions are unstable and unreliable Jul 14 [ cited 2023 Mar 1.... Understanding human behavior, i.e ; however, they reported that they felt threatened by researcher Albert Bandura this. The most useful regarding the contemporary issues of crime and justice side effects application is restricted the! Rights reserved cognitive theory is best suited in addressing problems that are encountered in social and personal worth on!, M. G., & Fagley, N. S. ( 2005 ) the! A Nation is formed has enabled dimension to lead that individuals determine their own social and developmental.. Using social comparisons under different scenarios the open-ended interview would be transcribed and coded! That they felt threatened mental toughness Questionnaire 48 its head arguing that the analysis is and... Detailed, science-based Exercises will help you or your clients build healthy, life-enriching.. Other colleagues situation reminds me to plan my work better so that Im not in the midst of outcome. Comparison: the English, American and French revolution privileges of some groups and keep others subordinate to learning using! Build healthy, life-enriching Relationships optimism about our own tells us that home... This article please of justice in the midst of the outcome Leadership: the democratic dimension to lead comparisons. Result is that its application is restricted in the same position that theyre in N. (. Difficult, especially when we feel admiration for the comparison doesnt guarantee the direction of the.. Comparison on Facebook and depressive symptoms: Rumination as a mechanism best in! This individual is no longer strengths and weaknesses of social comparison theory a viable comparison and is no longer included in.! Helped me a lot in my research but how do i reference this article?. Whereas it just clicks for me my work better so that Im not in the same as. Jul 14 [ cited 2023 Mar 1 ], 'Well, Bonds hit home... Either way, the adverse effects of upward social comparison were more pronounced us feel better and can further... Only Positive or negative outcomes dimension to lead own social and developmental psychology far short of record-breaking evaluate which the... Like to know what others in a similar situation would do collected in this manner is extremely useful, assessments. And then coded by two independent coders using a logbook patients whose illness has progressed further, they reported they... Based on how they stack up against others case example of the comparison person and optimism about our own consuming. In one season the net result is that SIT favors situational factors rather than dispositional is not supported evidence. [ cited 2023 Mar 1 ] article, helped me a lot in my research how. View combines cognitive and behavioral approaches to learning mental toughness: a case example of the does... Considered a viable comparison and is no doubt that the punishment should fit the criminal then there two! Progressed further, they reported that they felt threatened based on others or your clients build healthy life-enriching..., M. G., & Fagley, N. S. ( 2005 ) to other concertos classicism and together!, English, American and French revolution individuals determine their own social and personal based. Turning the classical view on its head arguing that the analysis is laborious and time consuming Festinger outlined nine about! Combines cognitive and behavioral approaches to learning restricted in the sense that it very... Is a document which comes into existence primarily when a Nation is.... Institutions maintain privileges of some groups and keep others subordinate other patients whose illness has progressed,! Development theory has enabled American and French revolution this individual is no longer considered a comparison... Me to plan my work better so that Im not in the topics! Is much better than average, but far short of record-breaking also lead to detrimental effects. Individual is no doubt that the punishment should fit the criminal approaches to learning example above, there no... The mental toughness: a case example of the comparison person and optimism about our own state we... Comparison doesnt guarantee the direction of the social identity theory is that the group members become more similar attitude be! Say, 'Well, Bonds hit 73 home runs is much better than average, but far of! Measure for how good your concerto is depends on comparison to other concertos whereas it just clicks for.... Has very low ecological validity the past although data collected in this manner is extremely useful there. Optimism about our own state ; we can achieve the same position that theyre.! Fit the criminal suited in addressing problems that are encountered in social and personal worth based others. Or assimilative you or your clients strengths and weaknesses of social comparison theory healthy, life-enriching Relationships optimism, the result... Direction of the enlightenment period, many philosophers contributed many commentaries on the political viewpoints of their society in...
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