Social comparisons

Social comparison is the evaluation of yourself, your performance or characteristics by reference to other people.

Definition

Social comparisons help us orient ourselves in norms and opportunities, but they can also lower self-esteem, increase jealousy or distort the image of our own progress. Upward comparisons can inspire or overwhelm, and downward comparisons can provide relief or block development. The key question is whether the comparison provides useful information.

Key ideas

Missing key ideas.

Practice and life

When you compare yourself with someone, write down one learning point and one contextual difference that makes the comparison not completely equal.

Common misunderstanding

It is a mistake to compare your process with someone else's end result. A common mistake is to ignore resources, time, support and launch conditions.

Questions for self-reflection

No questions for self-reflection.

Sources

No sources.