Social Comparison Theory

Interpersonal attraction in basic words is the force that acts in between two folks and brings them collectively to form friendship or other varieties of relationships. It can be any kind of optimistic attitude towards one more particular person such as affiliation, wanting to be with yet another individual or liking or enjoy or friendship. Man by nature is a social animal and if this want is not met due to social exclusion or rejection 1 tends to react in a adverse manner such as an improve in anxiety and anxiety and low self-esteem which is typically followed by decreased physical well being. The require for affiliation in my life is incredibly pertinent to me major a pleased life. I have constantly been known to be a social butterfly. I cannot survive in isolation.

Friendships are very essential. A single requirements to develop bonds with other people so that in occasions of stress distress I can have a shoulder to cry on. The significance of love in my life is very crucial as I often want an individual to share my accomplishment with ,my troubles with .The need to have to belong is extremely sturdy in me and the need to have for a strong and stable relationship to ground me and make me really feel really like and protected and worthy. Also a lot of factors contribute to the sort of folks I am attracted to .For me proximity and similarity play an crucial part in me forming sturdy connections with other individuals. My best buddies live 10 minutes away. My husband has a lot of comparable habits as mine hence why we have a powerful bond.

“Man is at one and the exact same time, a solitary being and a social becoming.”

Social comparison theory determines our worth primarily based on other people. We are impacted by others via comparing ourselves with them, especially with the social media we want our lives to be much more fascinating and glamorous as these portrayed in the media. Leon Festinger the pioneer of the social comparison theory claims that we are constantly searching for the truthful self-evaluations and self enhancement and hence we tend to examine ourselves to those around us to achieve more clarity. This aids create a sense of identity. We make upward or downward comparisons. For example a individual looks at a picture of a stunning model and wishes to be just like her this is upward comparison as she feels the model is better looking than her and she aspires to be just like her. Upward comparison is a source of inspiration and sets a aim for a single to try to attain. On the other hand downward comparison gives immediate relief and comfort. For instance a person compares his stunning lavish glamorous house to that of his significantly less earning colleague’s mediocre residence and feels superior and better than his colleague.

The most important reason for the want for affiliation according to the social comparison theory is the fact that we establish our social and personal worth by comparing to other people and seeing how we stack up against them. We continuously make self-evaluations based on a selection of domains i.e. attractiveness, wealth accomplishment intelligence social status. We have the social expertise and impulses to maintain our envy hidden but regardless they tend to come out in subtle approaches.