Social comparison theory was initially proposed by social psychologist Leon Festinger in 1954. Social comparison theory is centered on the belief that there is a drive within individuals to gain accurate self-evaluations. The theory explains how individuals evaluate their own opinions and abilities by comparing themselves to others in order to reduce uncertainty in these domains, and learn how to define the self.
Following the initial theory, research began to focus on social comparison as a way of self-enhancement, introducing the concepts of downward an upward comparisons and expanding the motivations of social comparisons.
Read more about Social Comparison Theory: Initial Framework, Theoretical Advances, Media Influence, Criticisms
Famous quotes containing the words social, comparison and/or theory:
“There will be no lasting peace either in the heart of individuals or in social customs until death is outlawed.”
—Albert Camus (1913–1960)
“We teach boys to be such men as we are. We do not teach them to aspire to be all they can. We do not give them a training as if we believed in their noble nature. We scarce educate their bodies. We do not train the eye and the hand. We exercise their understandings to the apprehension and comparison of some facts, to a skill in numbers, in words; we aim to make accountants, attorneys, engineers; but not to make able, earnest, great- hearted men.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Won’t this whole instinct matter bear revision?
Won’t almost any theory bear revision?
To err is human, not to, animal.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)