No one could save Akim from the wrath of the seven sisters. She yelled and screamed while she was drowning, but the ones who could hear did not care nor show an ounce of sympathy. “Of the Pretty Girl and the Seven Jealous Women” is an old Nigerian folktale centered around a girl, Akim who was the most beautiful girl in her village. Her beauty caught the attention and jealousy of everyone around her, including the seven women. They conspired to entrap her in the snares of a river god out of spite. Luckily Akim was saved by her father, and out of revenge he burned the seven women to death. The village elders deemed this to be an appropriate response as any harm to a beauty like Akim should be punished by death. The seven women committed their crimes because of envy. Akim was a beauty without imperfections, and the seven women hated her for it. They envied her beauty because it was something they could never have. This was an example social comparison theory, a sociological theory proposed by Leon Festinger stating that people compare themselves to others in order to self-evaluate themselves. When people make unreasonable comparisons of themselves to others who have more than them, or look better than them they may develop negative feelings such as anxiety, low self-esteem, and jealousy. This was the case for the seven women and also many others around the world. In the current generation social media has become an extremely important part of people’s lives. Apps such as Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat allows people to connect with each other no matter where they are located. Also it gives users the opportunity for self-representation allowing them to show themselves in the best light possible. “ Therefore, teenagers who are exposed to these social media can easily make social comparisons, causing them to become envious of what they see in those posts (Charoensukmongkol). Peerayuth Charoensukmongkol an assistant professor at the National Institute of Developmental Administration  conducted an experiment to test the role of social media use on social comparison and envy. He found that teenagers who used social media more reported higher levels of social comparison and envy. Teenagers competed with their peers through social media which created feelings of envy and social comparison when they felt as if they could not compare. However, social media is not the sole cause of social comparison and envy as is it is important to recognize the social environments that people are in and influenced by. Helmut Appel, a PHD student at the University of Cologne had a similar theory to Charoensukmongkol. He also believed that social media was the cause of social comparison and envy in individuals. However, unlike Charoensukmongkol, Appel believed that social media believed that there was a correlation between social media, depression, and envy. In order to try and prove his hypothesis Appel conducted a study involving depressed and non-depressed individuals and showed them preset Facebook accounts of attractive and unattractive people. The participants were then asked to convey their feelings of envy to the researchers and they found that the depressed individuals showed higher levels of envy, especially when they were shown the the accounts belonging to the attractive people (Appel). Steinbeis, Nikolaus, and Tania Singer studied how social comparison and envy affected children throughout childhood. They tested 182 children (ranging from 7-13) on novel speed reaction time tasks ( Steinbeis, Nikolaus, and Singer). After the tasks the children were asked to give feedback on their own and their competitor’s performance, and how they felt about the outcome of the trial. Unsurprisingly children felt better when they won and their opponents lost. Also they felt bad when they lost to their opponent instead of winning. This shows that even children when  performing novel tasks feel a sense of competition and socially compare themselves to others. In the article “Highly Attractive Models in Advertising and the Women Who Loathe Them: The Implications of Negative Affect for Spokesperson Effectiveness,” by Amanda B. Bower, Professor of Marketing at Washington & Lee University she argued that some women loathe comparing themselves to highly attractive supermodels in magazines and advertisements. She continued to say that whenever women saw ads with supermodels, women begin to compare themselves with the models causing anger, frustration, and jealousy due to the high expectations of beauty put on them by the advertisements. Juliet Odia is a Nigerian-American lawyer who works for the DHS of NYC. She said, “ my mother used to tell me stories and folktales to entertain me and scares me away from trouble. She used the story of Akim as a way to tell me to not be envious of others looks and appreciate my own beauty (Odia). In conclusion the story of Akim is the perfect example of social comparison theory. The seven women  attacked Akim purely out of jealousy. While this type of violence is uncommon in the real world, many are still affected by their envious thoughts towards others. Social media and many other factors can influence this.

                  ABSTRACT   Akim was the most beautiful girl in her village and her presence attracted the attention of all who were around her. Her beauty caused the jealousy of many including the seven sisters who decided to trick Akim and trap her in the snares of a river god. Their insecurities and jealousy of Akim blinded them from her natural kindness. Akim’s story explicitly shows the negative effects of social comparison and envy. Today, researchers use social media such as Facebook to study the effects of social comparison and envy amongst teenagers (Charoensukmongkol). Also Facebook and social media is used to study the effects of social comparison on depressed individuals (Appel).  The studies of Steinbeis and Singer study the effects of social comparison of children and their early development. And Amanda B. Bower provided insight as to how how social comparison affects women in advertising. All of this research helps explain the connection between social comparison and the attack on Akim. REFLECTION This was arguably the most difficult paper I had for this class, for many reasons. I for one had to compile research from multiple sources in order to prove my thesis, alongside explaining it. However, the most difficult thing about this piece was time management. When I was told this paper was due now a couple weeks back, I was too relaxed. And then suddenly time went by super fast and it is the day of the due date. Holidays and other classes had me stressed and then my own procrastination did not help me at all. Also another thing that I don’t think I did well on was the quoting of sources, i think i could have done better.

WORKS CITED 1. Charoensukmongkol, Peerayuth. “The Impact of Social Media on Social Comparison and Envy in Teenagers: The Moderating Role of the Parent Comparing Children and In-Group Competition among Friends.” Journal of Child and Family Studies, vol. 27, no. 1, June 2017, pp. 69–79., doi:10.1007/s10826-017-0872-8. 2. Steinbeis, Nikolaus, and Tania Singer. “The Effects of Social Comparison on Social Emotions and Behavior during Childhood: The Ontogeny of Envy and Schadenfreude Predicts Developmental Changes in Equity-Related Decisions.” Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, vol. 115, no. 1, 2013, pp. 198–209., doi:10.1016/j.jecp.2012.11.009. 3. Appel, Helmut, et al. “Social Comparison, Envy, and Depression on Facebook: A Study Looking at the Effects of High Comparison Standards on Depressed Individuals.” Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, vol. 34, no. 4, 2015, pp. 277–289., doi:10.1521/jscp.2015.34.4.277. 4. Bower, Amanda B. “Highly Attractive Models in Advertising and the Women Who Loathe Them: The Implications of Negative Affect for Spokesperson Effectiveness.” Journal of Advertising, vol. 30, no. 3, 2001, pp. 51–63., doi:10.1080/00913367.2001.10673645.