NOTE: Free essay sample provided on this page should be used for references or sample purposes only. The sample essay is available to anyone, so any direct quoting without mentioning the source will be considered plagiarism by schools, colleges and universities that use plagiarism detection software. To get a completely brand-new, plagiarism-free essay, please use our essay writing service.
One click instant price quote
It was recently announced that Chris Webber was going to be traded to the Philadelphia 76 ers this week. He has since started his career there with Alan Iverson on his side as well as the entire city. My roommate, our next door neighbor and I were watching Sports Center when they broke the news that the trade was official and had taken place. My roommate a native of Philadelphia was, needless to say, pleased with the trade.
I was relatively unaffected as a Wizards fan, although Webber was, at one point, traded from DC, and the other party, a Charlotte, Bobcats fan was indifferent. My roommate, Phil (not his real name), was happy to say that, they, (the 76 ers franchise), acquired Chris Webber. Phil is a fairly big sports fan, and as a sports fan, having a good team and good players is very important, as well as pointing out when other teams, in this case the Wizards and Bobcats, are lacking or no good. I am less of a sports fan and to me the Wizards are not of high importance to me.
My knowledge and interest is very trivial, although being from Washington, DC, I would have liked to see Chris Webber stay with the Wizards his whole career. James (also not his real name), the Bobcats fan and also a big sports follower, merely pointed out that the trade was good for the 76 ers. He didnt mention that the Bobcats really got nobody in the trades, and we all knew that Philadelphia was having the best year in sports of the three cities. This scenario points out very well the key points of the Self-Esteem/Evaluation Maintenance Theory in all three of the characters. It is important to note first that we are comparing each other on the basis of being a sports fan and supporting your home team. We compare each other through which team is better, and which one of us knows more about sports.
Since I do not claim to be a big sports fan, I, figuratively, can sit out this play. Phil, however, must prove to James that his team got the better deal and is a better team. This helps him keep his self-esteem as being a Philadelphia sports fan up. James may feel dissonance, however, because he is a big sports fan but he likes a bad team, the Bobcats. He dismisses this in the situation though by justifying that he is from Charlotte and that it has nothing to do with him that the Bobcats got no good players. We also see on Phils part a perfect example of Basking in Reflected Glory.
As he describes the 76 ers, he says, Its great that We got Chris Webber. Because it reaffirms his self-esteem, he acknowledges himself as a part of the 76 ers. This shows the importance the situation has for the self-esteem of us three individuals. I self-verify that sports are just not a big attribute to my self-esteem. I also feel some dissonance because I know that Chris Webber is a good player and could perhaps still be playing for the Wizards, in which case I would support him. In this case because of self-affirmation, I affirm that sports are not so important to me and I am interested more in another area, like music for example.
For Phil and James, to whom sports plays more of a role to their self-esteem, the situation is more important to their self-image. James for example will take use self-affirmation. He will justify the situation by saying, for example, the Carolina Tar Heels are a very good college basketball team, or that he isnt really interested in basketball as much. He also may distance himself from the comparison by saying that he is not as good of friends with Phil because he only knows him through me and that Phils opinion of him is not important in keeping his self-esteem up.
This leads to an important factor in the Self-Esteem Maintenance Theory; how close are we to the people we are comparing ourselves with? In this case we are all good friends and do not judge each other too strictly. I am, however, closer to both James and Phil than they are with each other. This just makes the comparison less relevant for all of us.
Since I am closer with the two of them, and sports are less important to my self-esteem than it is to theirs, they make less of a self-esteem comparison between each other. Furthermore, the situation has less importance to my self-esteem because I do not compare myself with them on the basis of sports. This situation illustrates how all of us try to maintain our self-esteem through what is important to us, how we compare ourselves to others, and how close we are to those who we are comparing ourselves to.
Free research essays on topics related to: esteem, good players, fan, webber, phil
Research essay sample on Self Esteem Maintenance Theory
