Reasons to Consider Yourself Superior to the Majority

Have you noticed that we are constantly comparing ourselves to others? With other students at school, with other drivers in traffic, with our colleagues at work. As a result of this comparison, mostly self-confident that we are better than others we think. Sounds a little narcissistic, right?

in Turkish above-average effect There are many situations where this phenomenon, which is also called as ‘, is for our benefit and to our detriment. Before we move on to these, let’s look at the scientific background.

“What is a better than average effect?” To answer the question, we need to go back to 1965.

Social psychologists Edward E. Jones and Steven J. Berg coined the concept of the better than average effect in 1965, which explains many human behaviors. According to this concept, people usually distinguish themselves from the majority. superior or kindhearted they tended to see. Later, when the researchers investigated the reason for this situation, they listed a few items:

Researchers think that believing we are above average may give us an evolutionary advantage.

According to this theory; because people see themselves as superior to other people their self-confidence increases, they feel good and thus perform better. After seeing its benefits in this way, we may have continued it from primitive people until today.

The scientific explanation for the phrase “no one says my yogurt is sour” may be “social comparison theory”.

According to this theory, another reason for the above-average effect is the social comparison theory. In other words, people determine how good they are by comparing themselves to other people. However, when comparing themselves to other people, they focus more on the shortcomings and faults of others. they can’t see their own mistakes. When this is the case, people remain in an illusion that can cause them to see themselves as superior to other people.

Now that we’ve talked about its history and causes, let’s see how it reflects on our ordinary lives: it may do more harm than good.

Your concept for us if we look at the benefits if; in the first place, because people are under this illusion reaching your goals may be more motivated. In second place, it may help people to perform better by increasing their self-confidence.

Let’s make it concrete with examples that it is difficult to face failure.

First, let’s look at the losses reflected on us in business performance. If the person sees himself as superior to his colleagues in business life and aims for a high position, if he cannot reach this goal a big disappointment viable. The same can happen with academic success. Students who think that they are smarter than other students may experience disappointment when they do not get the expected score in the exams.

An example can be given via drivers. Studies have found that drivers generally say they are better drivers than the general public. This situation cause of traffic accidents thought to be possible. Because it is thought that drivers who see themselves better can follow traffic rules less.

This phenomenon reduces the differences between people. prejudice and discrimination thought to be the cause. It is thought to be more effective especially when people come from different cultures or different lifestyles.

We mentioned that this phenomenon can be seen in a wide range of human behaviors. The last example of this is the increasing importance of today. Physical appearance. Studies show that the majority of people think they have a better appearance than others. In general, when we find ourselves to be more beautiful/handsome than others, this can cause us to have some unrealistic expectations. To some extent, this can make it difficult for us to accept ourselves as we are.

The importance of learning this concept for us is about being more objective.

The way to cope with this concept that people are attracted to like magnets and have difficulty resisting is ourselves. to evaluate properlyIt is about having a realistic point of view and setting realistic goals.