Why do we care so much?

Introduction. People generally assay for positive feedback pertaining to the self, in order to maintain a positive self-image. People also generally do not seek external feedback that accurately reflects their self-image, but rather a fair looking fruitcake that displays positive images of the self, which serve to protect 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 peck affect our self-evaluations, (Taylor & Brown, 1988).When a person we atomic number 18 coating to performs well on a task, what exit determine whether we will react positively or negatively to that behavior? Factors. There are three (3) influential operators that lead to having positive or negative thoughts on others successes when dealing with the self. They are all-important(a) in understanding the idea of self-esteem maintenance. The factors are Perfo rmance, Closeness, and Importance. Performance is the most straight forward, and states that genius will make decisions about their feelings towards others, based on how well that person performed on the same task that another(prenominal) has already completed. lecture 2/13/03) This is made by a measurement of some sort. In this case, Satoka got a higher cross out therefore Steve and Sarah on the trial run.This caused Steve to show feelings of jealousy towards Satoka, however Sarah, having gotten the same grade as Steve, was indifferent due to other factors. Closeness is a little trickier to deal with. It has to do with the alliance between the two people in question. If they are fold uply related, one would begin to hypothesize that they would be happy 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 co ntestation that could lead to envy and discomfort toward Satoka. (lecture 1/13/03) The last of the three factors is Importance. This is a crucial 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 care 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 item 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. erudite that Satoka has done better then him on the exam, could cause Steve to feel threatened. Satoka might now be a better candidate to be a psych. Major 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 apposite chemical react ion 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 account 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 costly about 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 switch over his performance on the task, (do better on the exam) and that will lead to a better feelin g when comparability with Satokas high score. Another thing he can do is change how close he is with Sataoka, meaning, he would distance himself in the friendship 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 average person deals with in a typical day during the subscriber line of his/her interaction with friends and strangers. If the population is all more aware of why we feel the way we do about certain things, it might be possible to prevent a lot of the negative hostility that is harbored for one another in certain situations, especially jealousy among friends.