Essay About Reference Groups And Human Nature

Human Nature
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Lets face it – it is human nature for us to compare ourselves with others, whether or not we do this on a conscious level. We compare ourselves to actors/actress, models, people we see on the street, etc., which more often than not, if we do it too much, makes us, feel like a bit of a failure, even for just a moment. No matter how well you are doing for yourself, there is always someone out there who you will think is better than you, based on what your idea of yourself may be. I never compare myself with others but if I do, I would compare myself to few people that I admire and with the best that I can be. Comparing my present with my utmost potentials helps me in becoming a better person. There may be many reference groups out there that we use to gauge our self-concept. Some of the groups may either have positive or negative affect on us. Most people have more than one reference group that they associate with, but for I really dont have that much. I think that the one reference group that I use to gauge my self-concept would be my co-workers. They are a group of people that I one day aim to be like when I become a teacher. They are a group of people that may have different style of teaching but their main goal is to enrich the lives of the children that they teach. They are also there to give advice to me when I need it or to give input on something that I can improve on. They try their best to guide you in a way that you are able to achieve the goal on your own. Another reference group that I gauge my self-concept would have to be my family and friends. I say my family and friends because they are the group of people that know me best and wont judge me for something that I do. For my friends, I have a handful or less that I actually can call my true friends and my family would just consist of my parents and sisters. My family and friends are like my co-workers. They are people who are loving and caring and would do anything to help. My parents are the people that taught me to be the person I am today and my friends are people that have the same sets of goals/beliefs that I have as well. But on the other hand there are negative reference groups that we do sometimes gauge our self-concept with. We may not know it is negative until we recognize something wrong with it. I can remember a group of people that I used to hang out with in middle school. They were the type of people who were considered somewhat popular/bad. I remember a time when we were at the liquor store and they wanted to get food. I remember that most of us didnt have enough money for what we wanted. So some of the people taught that we should steal the food. At first I was like “are you for real, this cannot be happening to me.” Once my foot reach the door that was when I realize that I didnt want to hang with them anymore because I thought that they might want to do something crazier. So I told myself this is not