Problem: How can I make notes with bullet points in this paragraph? Social Comparison A fourth way that peers influence each other is by providing standards against which children measure themselves. Children have few objective ways to rate their own characteristics, abilities, and actions, and so they turn to other people, particularly peers. Through a process of social comparison, they watch and evaluate their peers and then use what they've learned to evaluate themselves. Social comparison helps children define who they are and determine how well they think they stack up against their peers. Such comparison plays a major role in determining self-esteem (Harter, 2012). If children think that they are as good as their peers, their self esteem is high, but if they see themselves as falling short, their self-esteem suffers. Comparing themselves with their peers is adaptive. If a boy wants to know how good a fighter he is, it's better if he thinks about how well he's done in neighbor hood scuffles and how tough his peers think he is rather than comparing himself with professional boxers. If a girl wants to evaluate her reading ability, she is better off comparing herself with other children in her class rather than judging herself by how well her older sister reads. As a basis for self-definition, the peer group is unequaled. Children use social comparison with their peers as a way to evalu ate themselves with increasing frequency in the early years of elementary school (Harter, 2012) Need Assignment Help?