← all facts
social dynamics
You define your worth by measuring it against others.
A 1954 study proposed that in the absence of objective standards, humans evaluate their abilities through social comparison.
You do not judge your performance against a vacuum; you look at the person next to you. This tendency forces you to constantly re-evaluate your own success based on the shifting status of your peers.
Your own bar is set by the person standing beside you.
Where this comes from
- Study
- Festinger (1954), Social Comparison Theory
- What the check found
- The claim accurately captures the central tenet of Leon Festinger's 1954 A Theory of Social Comparison Processes.
- Confidence
- Well replicated
Related
One of these every day, and every one names the study it came from. When a finding is contested, it says so.