Critical observation: methods and applications

¶ … social behavior: Credit card debt

Will the next generation of college graduates be majoring in credit card debt? According to BusinessWeek, 75% of college students have credit cards versus 67% of college students in 1998 (Silver-Greenberg 2007). Many students, thanks to the tables set up by credit-card marketers at freshman orientation, will acquire a card even before they sign up for their first class. Almost everyone in my social circle has a credit card. And while some individuals use credit cards as a more secure type of debit card that they pay off at the end of the month, others fall into the trap of credit card abuse.

It is easy to sympathize. If a student has a poorly-paying job and little financial support from parents, the prospect of using a credit card is first tempting to pay for necessary items, such as food and books. Once the pattern of spending money that isn't really there is established and the debt begins to mount, $1,000 easily becomes $2,000 in a blink of an eye. Additionally, there is the psychology of 'everyone else is doing it, why can't I?' The negative behavior of over-spending has become normalized because it is so common. Because some student's leisure activities are heavily subsidized by their parents, there may be an unstated or even stated pressure to go out, buy certain types of clothes, and have the 'right' type of car or computer.

Individuals compare themselves to others: humans are social animals, and especially when people are young, vulnerable, and still searching for their identities, it is common to measure one's self against a peer group. If everyone else shows little concern for debt, a mounting credit card balance seems less significant: just like the groupthink that occurred in a famous experiment where everyone judged a pair of wildly dissimilar lines to be the same, simply because the first person to estimate the length said that the lines were equal. Additionally, it is difficult to admit 'friend x comes from a wealthy family, even if it isn't fair, he has more money to spend than myself.' No matter how clearly details about status "are conveyed, people as egocentric social information processors tend to process, comprehend, and evaluate such news by relating the details to themselves" (Mussweiler 2004, p. 832).

Social comparison theory, the idea that human beings feel satisfied or dissatisfied with their lots in life based upon peer-group comparisons, states that accessibility tends to increase the perceived similarity of 'self' and 'other' (Mussweiler 2004, p. 832). In other words, few college students are likely to look at famous stars and try to emulate celebrity lifestyles. However, in a seemingly equal setting like college, where everyone is taking similar classes, is staying in dorms rather than in houses that demarcate parental financial status, and where social life is very fluid, everyone feels 'the same.' And if someone who is 'the same' as you is wearing Abercrombie & Fitch and has the latest technological accessory from Apple, then why shouldn't you have those things as well?