Social Comparison and its role in Fitspiration

The role of social comparison and the pressure to conform in our society, social media, and fitspiration.

The Social Comparison theory is the idea that individuals determine their own social and personal worth based on how they compare against others (Festinger). The theory was created by Leon Festinger in 1954. People are constantly evaluating themselves to others in areas such as wealth, intelligence, success, and appearance. Humans tend to look to others for information on how to think, feel, and behave. Humans compare with others for self-evaluation, self-enhancement, and self-improvement. Certain amounts of comparison are necessary to advance, develop and motivate, and some people find that motivation, whereas others may experience feelings of dissatisfaction or guilt (Festinger).

There are two types of social comparison, upward and downward. Upward is when individuals compare themselves to people better than them to improve, and downward is when individuals compare themselves to people worse off to feel better. People seek upward comparisons if the achievements seem attainable but tend to avoid them if it seems unattainable (Knobloch-Westerwick & Romero). The tendency to compare with a specific person decreases as the differences between opinions and ability increase. Due to this, people are more likely to compare themselves to their peers; however, comparing to those above or below your peers still exists (Festinger).

The Social Comparison theory is very prevalent in research done on women, beauty, and fitness. Under the framework of the social comparison theory, it is found that women evaluate their appearance by comparing themselves with the cultural ideals of beauty and thinness presented in the media ("Exercise to be fit, not skinny"). Looking at idealized images causes women to compare themselves and make changes in their lives to achieve the bodies and looks of the “ideal woman”. In western culture, there is pressure toward uniformity and minority groups have pressure to conform with majority groups, thus women who don’t fit into the ideal beauty ideal are pressured to make changes to fit into it (Festinger). In terms of social media, comparison is very prevalent because there is constant exposure to images of seemingly perfect people. This is different than when magazines were the main form of media and celebrities were viewed and compared to about once a week. Now, peers and celebrities are viewed constantly, creating the space for more and more comparisons. As mentioned earlier, individuals are more likely to compare themselves to their peers because achievements seem more attainable. Higher levels of social comparison take place on social media because it is mostly peers on individuals' feeds ("Strong is the new skinny"). Regarding social comparison, this is what makes social media more detrimental than magazines; there is more comparison among peers. The achievements of peers seem more attainable than those of celebrities but when women fall short, they feel like more of a failure.

My 20-year-old sister, Bridget, who is active on social media and follows friends, fitness influencers, and celebrities, said that she is more likely to feel bad about not working out or eating unhealthily when she sees a friend post about working out and eating healthy than when she sees a fitness influencer or celebrity post. She said this is because when her friends are doing it, she feels like she should be too; but she knows when fitness influencers post about working out or eating, it’s because it’s their job and they have all the time and money to exercise and eat healthily. She follows Katie Austin, a fitness influencer who also posts recipes. Bridget says she doesn’t feel bad when she sees Katie post what she eats, because when she looks at the recipes and ingredients, they include extreme expensive ingredients that are so far off from anything she would buy or eat (Olney). There is so much difference between Bridget and Katie that there isn’t even space for Bridget to feel the need to compare.

In terms of fitness media and fitspiration, most women believe they can achieve the ideal body. This is rooted in the American ideal that if you work hard enough you can achieve anything; however, many women no matter how hard they work, will never be able to achieve the ideal body (Serna). This is due to a variety of things including genetics, lifestyle, and time. The more women compare, the more they are unsatisfied with their bodies. It is in these moments when women fall short of their goals and are unsatisfied that body image issues, body dissatisfaction, and decreased self-esteem arise (Robinson). It is interesting to note, that predispositions can affect how people make comparisons and how negative the effects will be on them. Every woman practices different levels of comparison which affects how they view others and themselves. Yet in general, most women practice high levels of social comparison (Tiggemann & McGill). The relationship between fitspiration and negative body image is mediated by social comparison, and it is the mechanism by which exposure to media images creates negative effects.

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