Why do we care so much?

Introduction. People by and large search for positive feedback pertaining to the egotism, in order to maintain a positive self-image. People also gener whollyy do not seek external feedback that accurately reflects their self-image, but instead a fair looking glass that displays positive images of the self, which serve to defend their personal self-esteem. (Brehm, Cassin, & Fein, 5th ed. 1998) Definition. Along these lines, Tessers self-evaluation maintenance model states that the performance of others in our social environments can affect our self-evaluations, (Taylor & Brown, 1988).When a person we ar abutting to performs well on a depute, what will determine whether we will fight down positively or negatively to that behavior? Factors. There are tierce (3) influential factors that lead to having positive or negative thoughts on others successes when dealing with the self. They are authoritative in understanding the idea of self-esteem maintenance. The factors are Perfor mance, Closeness, and Importance. Performance is the most straight forward, and states that one will make decisions around their persuasions towards others, based on how well that person performed on the same task that another has already completed. lecture 2/13/03) This is made by a measurement of some sort. In this case, Satoka got a higher tell then Steve and Sarah on the exam.This spend a pennyd Steve to fork over feelings of jealousy towards Satoka, however Sarah, having gotten the same word form as Steve, was indifferent due to other factors. Closeness is a runty trickier to deal with. It has to do with the proportionship between the two people in question. If they are lastly linkd, one would begin to hypothesize that they would be intelligent for each others successes. That is not what the data suggests. Steve, Satoka and Sarah, in the given problem, are all very close friends.The data suggests that this close bond will cause some tension and perhaps establish comp etition that could lead to look up to and discomfort toward Satoka. (lecture 1/13/03) The last of the three factors is Importance. This is a life-or-death factor because, if the task in question is not that important to ones self-concept or maintenance of high self esteem, then the individual simply wont armorial bearing enough to let it have any affect on him/herself. (lecture 1/13/03) Steve and Satoka in this example, are both aspiring psychology majors, which is the full point that makes this factor so significant, and makes this exam score so important to their self concept.They have established some kind of subconscious competition. K at one timeing that Satoka has through with(p) better then him on the exam, could cause Steve to feel threatened. Satoka might now be a better candidate to be a psych. major(ip) because of his superior performance on the exam. This exam however is not of crucial importance to Sarahs concept of the self, because she is not in a field relating to psychology. Thus, she has an clever reaction to the exam score, and Satoka, Processes.Based on the prior description of the factors, and how they relate to Steve and Sarahs reaction in this situation, one can further infer processes to write up for their reactions.. The first process is called comparison. The comparison process states that if another person who is close to you, on a task that is of importance to you, out performs you, you will show resentment, or feel badly. (lecture 1/13/03) The second process is Reflection. As its name suggests, this is when you reflect on someone elses success, and you feel good round yourself, because they performed well.This is the process that Sarah is exemplifying. Recovery. There are three things that Steve can do, (one in relation with each of the factors) in order to relieve himself of this burden of negative feelings towards Satoka. (lecture 1/13/03) The first is that he can change his performance on the task, (do better on the exam ) and that will lead to a better feeling when comparing with Satokas high score. Another thing he can do is change how close he is with Sataoka, meaning, he would distance himself in the association to help save positive self-esteem.Lastly, he could change the amount of strain or importance that he places on the exam. One solution would be to change majors. (lecture 1/13/03) Conclusion. The idea of self-concept maintenance is one that the mediocre person deals with in a typical day during the course of his/her interaction with friends and strangers. If the population is all more aware of why we feel the focal point we do about certain things, it might be possible to rule out a lot of the negative hostility that is harbored for one another in certain situations, especially jealousy among friends.