The Science of Why We Compare Ourselves to Others

A neuroscientist explains our obsession with “upward social comparison bias.”

Erman Misirlisoy, PhD
Forge
Published in
4 min readAug 25, 2021

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Photo: We Are/Getty Images

One of the most self-defeating things we do is compare ourselves to other people. Are we making as much money? Do we have as many friends? Is our lifestyle as glamorous?

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Erman Misirlisoy, PhD
Forge
Writer for

Research Leader (Ex-Instagram / Chief Scientist at multiple startups). Author of the User Insight Newsletter: https://userinsight.substack.com/