Festinger’s Social Comparison Theory

In Festinger’s social comparison theory (1954) he “suggested that people compare themselves to others because for many domains and attributes there is no objective yardstick to evaluate ourselves against, and other people are therefore highly informative” (Baron, Branscombe, Byrne, 2008, p. 134). Nowadays, this theory of the 1950’s seems like common sense; of course we compare ourselves to others to know where we stand. It is interesting, however, that certain things come into play for us to engage in social comparison: one of the most prominent is that we must have feel uncertain. Think back to any movie where one of the main characters is out of his or her element and looks to those around to know what to do. Here the main character is actively engaged in social comparison. When we are not in situations of uncertainty, where we must compare our actions to others so we know how to act, who do we compare ourselves to? The answer depends on the motive for the comparison. In the first example, it is to gain knowledge in uncertainty. At other times it is to asses ourselves and our actions or to feel good about ourselves. Normally, feeling good about ourselves trumps the desire for an accurate assessment. When we are acting out of the norm and we do want an accurate assessment of ourselves we normally compare ourselves to people that are similar: sharing in common with us the broad domains of gender, experience, values, or race, etc… We do not compare ourselves to people in a different social category because that can lead to a less positive comparison result. For example, let’s say someone is a beginning singer and is in a singing group with other beginners. He or she might think, “Well, compared to the others in my group I am a pretty good singer”. However, if that same person compares him or herself to an advanced singing group no doubt he or she would feel remarkably less positive about his or her singing ability. What should one take away from Festinger’s comparison theory? Should it be that you should compare yourselves to people who are less successful or talented than you in a particular domain? I suppose if one’s goal in life is to feel good about oneself, and not strive for an accurate assessment, I think that the above comparison can be beneficial and certainly has its place at times. On the other hand, if someone desires to grow and improve I would recommend comparing yourself to people who are slightly more successful in a certain domain so you will have something to work towards. As a singer, sometimes I compare myself to singers that match my skill level and think “I’m a pretty good singer” and at other times I will compare my singing to singers that a far more skilled and think, “Man, I have a long way to go”. In conclusion, Festinger was correct that we compare ourselves to others. Furthermore, we compare ourselves to different groups based depending on the motive for comparison. Lastly, while comparing to a particular group to feel good certainly has its place, let us strive for improvement (where improvement is feasible) when we engage in social comparison by comparing ourselves to groups that motivate self-improvement.