Our nervous system and mind are constantly subconsciously comparing. We step into a crowded elevator, our muscles stiffen so as to avoid encroaching into the private territories of others. This is an example of changing your posture when comparing it to those around you. When strolling in a museum we quite our conversation so as not…

Social media and smartphones have irreversibly changed the landscape of human connection and fundamentally redefined how people interact with one another. Eighty percent of users check their phones within fifteen minutes of waking up, according to a 2013 study sponsored by Facebook. The same study also found that the average user checks their mobile device…

To live consciously is to live in a deliberate and intentional way.  The overuse of social media is so normalized that it’s difficult to identify when it becomes a barrier to living a conscious life. There are signs you can identify when it is becoming a problem. Generally, when it negatively impacts your life, job, or…

Today we delve into Social Comparison Theory and The Herd Instinct Social comparison helped herds to imitate the behavior of equals to choose cooperative patterns of behavior. These tendencies create a status structure of higher and lower groups. A dominance hierarchy is established, with leaders and followers. Each group compares themselves within their own group….

Leon Festinger originally proposed The Social Comparison Theory in 1954. The basics of this theory is that individuals have an internal drive to evaluate themselves to others. He goes on to theorize that the drive to compare reduces as when there is diversity.  “People tend to move into groups of similar opinions and abilities, and…