Chapter 13 is all about social psychology, which is the study of how people influence others' behaviors, beliefs, and attitudes-for both good and bad. For the most part, others have positive influences over us. But one idea that was introduced right away and captured my attention was the social comparison theory. This theory is based on the idea that we evaluate our abilities and beliefs by comparing them with those of others. Social comparisons can be made in two different ways, upward social comparisons ( comparing ourselves to people we deem superior) and downward social comparisons (comparing ourselves to people we deem inferior). This immediately made me think of the pressure for perfection in our society and how we are taught to be competitive at a very young age.
In high school, I was really close with two people who were twins. But unlike most twins that I knew, they spent extremely little time together and the competition to appear to be the "better" twin was almost uncomfortable to witness. The girl twin was bubbly, extremely social, and a sweetheart to everyone, except for her brother. The boy twin was a little bit shyer, but still was really involved in school. But only when I would be at their house did I experience the depth of the competition. They both tried to do better in school than the other, and have better relations with not only their friends, but their parents as well. No one told these two when they were young to compete against each other, so what made them start? Is the social pressures of society becoming too much at a young age?
Is social pressure of society becoming too much? I don't believe that is the case. Twins are less common then siblings in general. Competition is a healthy way of life and helps us "usually" to strive to be and do better. Something that I strongly agree with is how people always compare themselves to either someone that is superior or inferior to them. Me along with probably everyone has done this and I feel that doing this can be good to strive for more but for those who tell themselves they can never get there tend to fail. Along with that comes excuses claiming if they had this or that they would do better. In those scenarios you just have to push through and be as best as you can be.