Key Takeaways
- Social comparison helps us evaluate ourselves by comparing our abilities to others.
- Upward comparisons push us to improve, while downward comparisons make us feel better about ourselves.
- Comparing ourselves inaccurately can lead to wrong judgments about our abilities.
Social comparison theory suggests that people value their personal and social worth by assessing how they compare to others. First introduced in 1954, this psychological theory describes the comparison processes people utilize to evaluate their actions, accomplishments, and opinions in contrast to those of other people.
In psychology, social comparison theory is one explanation for this tendency we have to make comparisons between ourselves and others. Let’s take a closer look at how social comparison theory works and how the comparisons we make can influence the views we hold of ourselves.
History of Social Comparison Theory
Social comparison theory was first proposed in 1954 by psychologist Leon Festinger, suggesting that people have an innate drive to evaluate themselves in comparison to others. People regularly make judgments about themselves, often by comparing themselves to others.
For example, imagine that a high school student has just signed up for band class to learn how to play the clarinet. As they evaluate their skills and progress, they compare their performance to other students in the class.
They might initially compare their abilities to the other members of the clarinet section, particularly noting those who are better than them, as well as those who are worse. They may also compare their musical abilities to those of students who play other instruments, even comparing themself to the star student of the class.
Psychologist Leon Festinger believed that we engage in this comparison process as a way of establishing a benchmark by which we can make accurate evaluations of ourselves.
Types of Social Comparison
The social comparison process involves understanding oneself by evaluating attitudes, abilities, and traits in relation to others. There are two types of social comparison: upward social comparison and downward social comparison.
Upward Social Comparison
Upward comparison takes place when we compare ourselves with those who we believe are better than or superior to us. These comparisons often focus on the desire to improve ourselves, our current status, or our level of ability. We might compare ourselves to someone better off and look for ways that we can achieve similar results.
Downward Social Comparison
Downward social comparisons occur when we compare ourselves to people who are worse off than we are. These comparisons often focus on making ourselves feel better about our abilities or traits. While we might not excel at something, knowing we are better than someone else can boost our self-esteem.
People compare themselves to those who are better when they want inspiration to improve, and they compare themselves to those who are worse when they want to feel better about themselves.
When Social Comparisons Are Inaccurate
According to Festinger, people use social comparisons to accurately assess their abilities, traits, and attitudes. However, if these comparisons are ineffective, they can lead to inaccurate self-assessments.
For example, you might compare yourself to friends and believe you are physically fit enough to run a marathon. On race day, you may find participants more athletic than you, realizing your initial assessment was overly optimistic.
Impact of Social Comparison
Comparing ourselves to others can be both beneficial and harmful. The difference lies in the types of comparisons being made, or whether they are upward or downward.
If you want to assess your skill as a basketball player, you might begin comparing your performance to other people that you know, such as a friend who plays on a school’s basketball team. This is an example of upward social comparison.
In comparison to them, your performance is not nearly as skilled. At first, you may feel discouraged by the gap between your ability levels. But you might also realize that you can eventually achieve a similar skill level with a little practice. In this case, the upward social comparison may make you more motivated to improve upon your abilities.
Conversely, you might also compare your basketball abilities to a friend who couldn’t make a basket to save their life. In comparison, your performance is much better. This is an example of downward social comparison. In this case, observing your friend’s poor skills can make you feel better about your own abilities.
Some comparisons might make you feel inadequate and less likely to pursue a goal, while others give you confidence and help boost your self-esteem.
Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
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