Q.The self that values family and social relationships is referred to as ________ .
(i) Personal
(ii) Social
(iii) Familial
(iv) Relational
CBSECBSE Class XII Board 2023MCQ· 1mImportance★★★★★
✓ Free question
Concept understanding — Self Concept Comparison
Self Concept Comparison
Imagine you have a mental picture of yourself — who you are, what you're good at, what you value. That's your self-concept. Now imagine you meet someone who seems more confident, more successful, or just different from you. Instantly, your mind starts measuring: How do I stack up?
That act of measuring yourself against another person — or against an ideal version of yourself — is self-concept comparison. It's the psychological process where you evaluate your own traits, abilities, and worth by comparing them to someone else's.
The Intuition
You do this dozens of times a day without noticing. When a classmate scores higher on a test, you feel a pang — that's comparison. When you scroll through social media and see someone's "perfect" life, that hollow feeling? Comparison again. When you look at a friend who handles stress calmly and think, I wish I were more like that — that's also comparison.
The key insight: you don't see yourself in a vacuum. Your sense of who you are is constantly shaped by the people around you. You know if you're tall only because others are shorter. You know if you're kind only because you've seen unkindness. Every self-judgment is relative.
The Precise Statement
Self-concept comparison is the cognitive process in which an individual evaluates their own attributes (abilities, opinions, emotions, social status, physical appearance) by comparing them with those of another person or a standard (an ideal self, a peer group, a societal norm).
This idea comes from Social Comparison Theory (Leon Festinger, 1954), which states that humans have an innate drive to evaluate themselves, and when objective measures are unavailable, they turn to comparisons with others.
Upward comparison: Comparing yourself to someone you see as better. This can motivate improvement or cause feelings of inadequacy.
Downward comparison: Comparing yourself to someone you see as worse. This can boost self-esteem or create complacency.
Why It Matters for Exams
When you study, you're constantly comparing: Am I as prepared as my friend? Am I smarter than the topper? That comparison shapes your motivation, your anxiety, and even your study strategy. The student who compares upward and feels inspired studies harder. The one who compares upward and feels crushed may give up.
Watch out
The trap: comparing your insides (your doubts, struggles, messy process) to someone else's outsides (their polished result, their calm appearance). That comparison is always unfair — and always misleading.
The Takeaway
Self-concept comparison is not good or bad — it's inevitable. What matters is what you do with it. Use upward comparison as a map, not a verdict. Use downward comparison as gratitude, not arrogance. And remember: the only comparison that truly helps is comparing today's you to yesterday's you.
(b) (ii) and (iii) OR (c) (iii) and (iv) - both marked correct. (NCERT p.26)
✓Final answer
(b) (ii) and (iii) / (c) (iii) and (iv) [both accepted per MS]
The correct option is (b) (ii) and (iii) / (c) (iii) and (iv) [both accepted per MS].
(b) (ii) and (iii) OR (c) (iii) and (iv) - both marked correct. (NCERT p.26)
✓Final answer
(b) (ii) and (iii) / (c) (iii) and (iv) [both accepted per MS]