Analysis Of Why Social Comparison Is Better Than Self-Esteem

In the essay “The Trouble with Self-Esteem”, Lauren Slater is arguing that the theory of self-esteem should be banned. Slater states that “People with High Self-Esteem pose a greater threat to those around them than people with low Self-esteem”. Humans with low self-esteem humble themselves more and work harder to be noticed and to maintain the status quo of society. Slater stated that humans with high self-esteem were dangerous and posed a threat. Slater discuses facilities that could assist with humans who cope with self-esteem issues.

Many experts feel that self-esteem is at the core of everything you do in your life. While people with high self-esteem are willing to go after the life they want, people with low self-esteem tend to make choices that don't

Most people face self esteem problems at different levels. At some point in life people face this problem without realizing it. In the essay The Trouble with Self-Esteem written by Lauren Slater starts of by demonstrating a test. Self esteem test that determines whether you have a high self-esteem or low self-esteem. The question to be answered however is; what is the value and meaning of self-esteem? The trouble with self-esteem is that not everyone approaches it properly, taking a test or doing research based of a certain group of people is not the way to do so.

The concept of self esteem is widespread in life. When it comes to academics and extracurricular actives people associate high self esteem is necessary for success. Society makes promoting self esteem an important goal. With that in mind, it is surprising that only recently scientific literature began providing insight into the nature of development of self esteem.

A person with a strong sense of self esteem will have a more positive outlook on life and will be strong enough to handle difficult situations through life.

Low self-esteem has been an issues with many people since before the 1970’s. This issue has gradually picked up since the 70’s and has progressed 37% in the last 200

Humans are judgmental creatures. One of our most significant philosophy is “not judging a book by its cover”, which examines our habit to judge. We did not purposely develop this questionable characteristic; we seem to have been with this evolutionary trait. We judge everything as a survival instinct to protect ourselves; the perception we create from our personal opinions determine whether we believe something is friendly or foe. As with everything, we judge ourselves, and we tend to be our biggest critic. We constantly judge ourselves, but why? People have referred to this type of judgement as self-esteem. Self-esteem is measured by how positive we view ourselves: the more positive our perception of our self, the higher our self-esteem and

Usually in my life I will experience a few negative emotions and thoughts and then briefly affirm that what I am believing is untrue and then switch my mind to something different. I also have journals that I will write in every once in a while, but it isn’t something I use for overcoming negative emotions. Coming from a conservative, religious family I have always heard that meditation is bad. While Neff practices Buddhist meditation and uses some of these ideas in her programs to teach self-compassion, after listening to one of the meditation podcasts, I can see the benefit. The meditation practices she developed helps one relax, become more self-aware, and focused on thoughts of love and compassion not only towards oneself but also towards others. Another aspect that I had not taken into consideration is the difference between self-compassion and self-esteem. As Neff explains, self-esteem is basically one’s perceived value and worth; however, it is contingent on how one is compared to another. I have never looked at self-esteem being a problematic, negative term, now I understand the aspects of it that can be detrimental to ones well-being. Always striving to have high self-esteem leads us to put other people down in the process, it also insinuates that we have to be perfect and better to be worthy, which is the opposite of what Neff’s concept of self-compassion entails. Our society thrives on the idea that one has to be better than their counterpart, what we lack is this idea of self-compassion. Therefore, I think it would be very beneficial to teach self-compassion in children; this may lead to an overall more compassionate generation that flourishes on how we can help each other and ourselves

Self-esteem is essentially how you feel about yourself and how you judge your value. It is a state of mind that can be changed. These days many people are having low self-esteem issues. In this article by Amee LaTour, she has talked about what are the causes of low self-esteem. She presents her points in the form of an article. This paper will review Amee LaTour’s arguments and will assess the quality of her writing and concentrate on any zones of shortcomings in this article.

The upward comparison that you used was great! It made a great deal of sense to use this comparison when talking about your friend being the better southern cooker and more organized. According to the lecture, social comparisons help us to learn about ourselves by comparing ourselves to others (Lesson 5 What is the "self" P1 , 2016). It seems as if you found out that you are not as good of a southern cooker or as organized as your friend by comparing yourself to her. The goal to be a good southern wife helped to support your comparison as well. I am glad that you have a wonderful friend like Mel. We all need people who helps, encourage, teaches us new things, and helping us reach higher limits. It seems as Mel is a true friend.

Self-esteem is a highly valued attribute of human personality. However, it is less mercurial than the ups and downs associated with everyday mood changes. Due to the increasing population finding themselves within various cycles of diminishing self-worth, high self-esteem has become less common today than in the past. These cycles, the most prominent being the cycles of media, perfection, and abuse, continuously revolve around themselves and lower the esteem of those within them. The root of low self-esteem lies within reversible social and psychological cycles of cause and effect, and only with the breaking of these cycles can self-esteem be improved.

Five articles assessed self-compassion and depressive symptoms: four from a non-clinical sample, and one from both a clinical sample and a non-clinical sample. In a cross-sectional study of 142 depressed outpatients and 120 never-depressed individuals from a non-clinical sample, clinically depressed patients were significantly less self-compassionate than never-depressed individuals (Krieger, Altenstein, Baettig, Doerig, & Holtforth, 2013). In the depressed outpatients, self-compassion was negatively related to depressive symptoms, symptom-focused rumination as well as cognitive behaviour avoidance. In another study, involving 271 participants from a non-clinical sample, that examined the mediators of the relationship between self-compassion and depression and anxiety, results suggest that one way via which self-compassion has a buffering effect on depression and anxiety is through its positive effects on unproductive repetitive thinking (Raes, 2010).

Previous research examined the potential relationship between social comparison, envy, and depression. Appel, Crusius, and Gerlach (2015) utilized a sample of about 130 participants that were divided into two experimental groups of depressed and non-depressed to analyze profiles that were on Facebook. The researchers found that high levels of envy, when the social comparison level is high, could result in depressive symptoms. In the case of Facebook, there is a concept called Facebook Envy. Envy that comes out of gathering information about others on Facebook (Chou & Edge, 2012). Tandoc, Ferrucci, and Duffy (2015) report that Facebook envy has some influence on depression. A person that uses Facebook more may experience higher levels of envy

Social comparison theory expresses that individuals want to raise themselves by contrasting themselves with others. Social comparison theory proposed that people consistently evaluate themselves and they do this by comparing themselves to others (Festinger, 1954). Festinger (1954) hypothesized that people evaluate themselves by comparing their opinions of their attributes to those respective opinions that others hold. This will correlate with both internalization of thin ideal media and body comparisons of media figures and other peers, and how this impacts body image.

People’s self-esteem either high or low is shaped by their life experiences. I believe a person’s self-esteem begins to take shape at an early age, with their parents being a major influence. Kind, positive, knowledgeable and caring parents help children create a positive self-image. Parents who do not feel good about themselves or others, sometimes take it out on their childern by belittling them or discouraging them. This leads the child down a path of self-doubt and eventually given the right circumstances a lower self-esteem.