Comparing descending and glamorizing images or persona of physical fea

Comparing descending and glamorizing images or persona of physical features has a modifying effect on the self-development concept. Is that same behavior a burden cross-culturally?

          According to Fein & Spencer (1997), one of the most profound understandings of the human psychological thought processes is that of the self and others influence the images of how we see ourselves. Peoples’ self-concepts of themselves are imagined and reimaged by others through social interactions with family, friends, and associates and the sociocultural influences of organizations, work-relations, clubs, churches, and social media. According to Oberst, Wegmann, Stodt, Brand, & Chamarro (2017), in a study published by the Journal of Adolescence, the influences of social networking attracts many children that runs a risk of suffering from negative psychological consequences, like photo bullying, causing self-identity anxiety, depression in young girls.

         Millions of people share themselves on social media, and one reality of social media is that it's not true, in the sense that people share the best part of their lives on social media, putting their best foot forward, all the time, not the worst part of their lives (War of Thought, 2016). Comparing ourselves to others online is not fair to us because their realities are sometimes imaginary or somehow their impression management is not true statements of their real situations (Aronson, Wilson, & Sommers, 2021). People attempt to get others to see them in a light that they, themselves want to be seen in. According to War of Thought (2016), one should only compare self to self, to improve our lives. According to Aronson, Wilson, & Sommers (2021), to get an independent view of the self, use your internal feelings, thoughts, and actions, not the thoughts, feelings, or actions of others. This process when we look inward to take a physical moral inventory of ourselves to check our motives is termed introspection (Aronson, Wilson, & Sommers, 2021).

          Cross-culturally most people want to make a great impression on others, no matter what’s their race or ethnicity however, the ways in which they utilize their impression management diversify drastically according to (Aronson, Wilson, & Sommers, 2021). For example, people of Asian cultures tend to want to save face in public issues, they believe in harmony and others being happy because they are more interdependent or (collectivists) and care more about embarrassing their family or community than their Western counterparts that are independent or (individualists), people concerned with their personal comfort (Shiraev & Levy, 2016).

          Notwithstanding, research shows that self-identity comes from someone’s understanding of how others see them, causing self-interested individuals to show a negative avoidance perception from environments giving negative perceptions of them, such as social media responses to them (Riyanto, & Zhang, 2016).

          For individualists of any race or ethnicity, the standard theory is that they are self-consumed, in their well-being, and maintaining a positive image in front of people, is important and therefore, the downward comparing and idealizing images that others say about them in the social media context would affect their psychological positive image (Riyanto, & Zhang, 2016).   

References

Aronson, E., Wilson, T. D., & Sommers, S. R. (2021). Social psychology (10th ed.). Pearson Education, Inc. ISBN: 978-0-13-464128-7

Fein, S., & Spencer, S. J. (1997). Prejudice as self-image maintenance: Affirming the self through derogating others. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 73(1), 31-44. http://dx.doi.org.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/10.1037/0022-3514.73.1.31

Oberst, U., Wegmann, E., Stodt, B., Brand, M., & Chamarro, A. (2017). Negative consequences from heavy social networking in adolescents: The mediating role of fear of missing out. Journal of Adolescence, 55, 51-60. http://dx.doi.org/10.3016.adolescence.2016.12.008

Riyanto, Y. E., & Zhang, J. (2016). Putting a price tag on others’ perceptions of us. Experimental Economics, 19(2), 480-499. http://dx.doi.10.1007/s10683-015-9450-3

Shiraev, E. B., & Levy, D. A. (2013). Cross-cultural psychology: Critical thinking and contemporary applications (6th ed.). Routledge ISBN: 978-1-138-66838-6

War of Thought. (2016). Stop comparing yourself to others on social media-animated [Video file]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPThNmxF7JY

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