People are afraid of the unknown. They lie to create a persona that everyone will enjoy. So why do people lie to themselves and others to preserve self-image? Maybe they do not feel comfortable with themselves. They wouldn’t be the only ones either. Over a third of girls have a warped perspective of themselves. (McBride 1).
Family is a major influence over a child’s self image. “A mother’s weight, body image, attitude and health habits are strong indicators of her daughters.” (McBride 4) Children create a new “them” to remain their parents’ perfect angel. The children lie to stay young and perfect. Most of them do not want to grow up. Children that are complimented regularly by their mothers are more likely to have a better self-image. “Pryor gives credit for her good self-image to the way her parents raised her.” (McBride 2) Families who do not morally support their children will tend to make poor eating habits. “Some 89% of girls say their mothers make positive comments about how the girl looked.” (McBride 4) The other 11% are more susceptible to bullying and peer pressure.
Media is another component that influences a girl’s view of herself. This affects the way she believes she should look. At a very young age children are stuck in front of a TV. for entertainment. They grow up with the skinny women and diet commercials. The children are brainwashed into thinking that everyone must be a size zero. This is what they consider “healthy” living.
The Barbie doll is another example of media controlling girls view. They made her the unattainable dream of woman hood. Barbie, in human proportions, is implausible. The creator’s image of the doll was for her to become a role model for young women not the opposite. S...
... middle of paper ...
... Children that overact over small things tend to have a more traumatic life. These children get to a point where they just do not care anymore. Marya Hornbacher said, “There was a time when the lies rolled off my tongue with ease, when it was far more important to me to self-destruct than to admit I had a problem, let alone allow anyone to help.” (Hornbacher 4) Many children are like this. They try so hard to be flawless when no one can be perfect. A study showed that “Girls are more focused on their looks than what they eat or how much they exercise.” (McBride 2)
People lie to themselves and others to preserve their self-image for reasons that are unknown to the outside world. All we can do is speculate. There are a few factors that we know. Their families, the media, the community, their emotional reactions all play a huge part in a child’s self-image.
“If Barbie was designed by a man, suddenly a lot of things made sense to me,” says Emily Prager in her essay “Our Barbies, Ourselves” (Prager 354). Prager’s purpose for writing this essay is to explain the history of Barbie and how the doll itself has influenced and continue to influence our society today. Prager is appealing to the average girl, to those who can relate to the way she felt growing up with Barbie seen as the ideal woman. Emily Prager uses a constant shift between a formal and informal tone to effectively communicate her ideas that we view women today based upon the unrealistic expectations set forth by Barbie. By adopting this strategy she avoids making readers feel attacked and therefore
Self centered and other oriented lies are two different types of lies. Self centered are lies people use in order to lie about themselves , while other oriented are lies people use to lie about other people. In the scientific article written by Depaulo presented that a participant would tell more self- centered lies than other oriented lies. According to a mixed model forty five percent
In stereotypical teenage drama movies, like Mean Girls, the high school girls make up lies about themselves to make them look better and make others look worse. It is all to keep a reputation. Abigail’s uncle, Reverend Parris, is not the one being dishonest, but is trying to usher the truth out of his niece, “...I pray you feel the weight of truth upon you, for now my ministry’s at stake...you compromise my very character” (Miller 11). He is worried that his reputation as a minister is ruined because of Abigail’s lie that would give him a negative name around the town. Sometimes another person's actions cause others to suffer the consequences. Then, there are some people that decide to stretch the truth by making up excuses to keep from sabotaging their reputation. Julie Indvik and Pamela Johnson think “giving excuses too often undermines a person’s reputation by making him/her seem self-absorbed, unreliable or unknowledgeable” (Indvik 5). Like untruths, the smallest excuse can make someone form a different opinion of an individual. If it is done frequently it can ruin a reputation and the relationship they may have together. To some, having a certain status means everything and they will lie to protect it at all
The question of what constitutes morality is often asked by philosophers. One might wonder why morality is so important, or why many of us trouble ourselves over determining which actions are moral actions. Mill has given an account of the driving force behind our questionings of morality. He calls this driving force “Conscience,” and from this “mass of feeling which must be broken through in order to do what violates our standard of right,” we have derived our concept of morality (Mill 496). Some people may practice moral thought more often than others, and some people may give no thought to morality at all. However, morality is nevertheless a possibility of human nature, and a very important one. We each have our standards of right and wrong, and through the reasoning of individuals, these standards have helped to govern and shape human interactions to what it is today. No other beings except “rational beings,” as Kant calls us, are able to support this higher capability of reason; therefore, it is important for us to consider cases in which this capability is threatened. Such a case is lying. At first, it seems that lying should not be morally permissible, but the moral theories of Kant and Mill have answered both yes and no on this issue. Furthermore, it is difficult to decide which moral theory provides a better approach to this issue. In this paper, we will first walk through the principles of each moral theory, and then we will consider an example that will explore the strengths and weaknesses of each theory.
Stephanie Ericsson’s The Ways We Lie, analyzes and reflects on how lying has simply become the norm in our society. We all lie, there is not one person in the world that does not lie. Most people lie because they are afraid of telling the truth, however what they do not know is telling a lie can lead them in the wrong direction because many things can happen when lying to a person. The person can find out when everything unravels that person will not have trust in you and you would be known as a liar. To every action there is a consequence, so why not deal with just one consequence when telling the
Self-doubt is a lack of confidence in oneself and performance, it can be caused by going on social media and evaluating others to oneself and it doesn’t stop there it hits children, adults, and especially teens. “Even media aimed at elementary school age children, such as cartoons and children’s videos, emphasize the importance of being attractive.” (Media-Saturated). Showing that the expectation to look one’s best all the time is installed in the brain from a very young age. Why would people subject children to this horror? Simple it’s already so common people
A group of people reviewing a program called, “In Favor of Myself,” wrote, “Teenagers with low self-esteem often fall victim to a variety of unhealthy behaviors and may become more susceptible to peer pressure, while others may remain more self-centered” (Golan et al. 1). Teens almost feel the need to be popular, which could lead them into trouble. This could mean skipping class, smoking, drinking, cheating on a test. Moria Golan, Noaa Hagay, and Snait Tamir who are researching the effects of positive self-image wrote, “The desire to raise social status and impress peers leads many teenagers down a path of self-destruction” (Golan et al. 1). It seems that the teens that are getting into trouble or are who are infatuated with the idea of being popular, are the ones that need the most help with improving self-image. The group researching, “In Favor of Myself,” also wrote, “Negative body image is a widespread concern among...females and often results in dieting behaviors, which can perpetuate the risk of eating disorder development. Body image dissatisfaction is increasingly being recognized as an important target for public health action” (Golan et al.
The media's emphasis on having a flawless body, or face is starting to influence girls at a very young age. When given a unrealistically thin doll, such as Barbie to play with, girls ages five to seven said that they wished to be thinner (Swinson). Not only are young girls wishing to be thinner, their self-confidence is being demolished by the media. “In one recent study, researchers found that TV programs focused on appearance are swaying the self-esteem of girls as young as 5” (Heubeck). The medi...
Not many people know the “truth” about lying and why do people do it, is because they don’t want that one person to know or they don’t want to hurt that person?
Adolescent egocentrism has two components: the imaginary audience and personal fable. Imaginary audience is an adolescents belief that others are as interested in them as they themselves are. Adolescents are eager to be noticed, visible, and the center of attention among their peers. For example, when I was twelve years old I was obsessed with going to school dressed with the latest fashion in order to impress my peers. I would think that everyone would notice and talk about me if I was not dress nice. Another example is that at age eleven I accidentally slipped on wet grass during a fire drill at school and was embarrassed at my temporary incident. I was upset because I felt that everyone noticed and will begin to gossip because I did not maintain my appearance of being perfect. On the other hand, personal fable involves an adolescent’s sense of uniqueness and invincibility. Since adolescents begin to believe they are so unique, they often feel that parents and adults do not understand them. For example, an adolescent may not tell his or her parents that they are experiencing bullying because they believe the parents do not understand them. Another example may be an adolescent who skips school continuously believes the administration or his parents will never catch him. Essentially, the adolescent believes he is invincible to
People are more aware of how social media affects women on their physical features and how negative it can be. You will see on different advertisements, movies, and television shows of women being portrayed like a model, a beautiful, tan, toned, and tall girl with flawless skin complexion. This puts a lot of severe pressure on girls to become this image because most pre-teen and teenage girls do not meet these "expectations" since their body type may be from genetics or going through puberty, having baby fat, acne, or stretch marks, which is normal as it is natural for anyone. Girls compare themselves to these models and gain motivation to look exactly like the other girls that are being displayed. From this motivation the actions the girls will do can involve exercising, a healthy method to improve the body with muscle toning and having other health benefits, or eating healthy. But, a lot of girls choose to harm their bodies with three negative effects and put them under stress. These negative effects from girls trying to become skinnier include eating disorders, depression, and engaging in other negative activities, which was mentioned by the Do Something blog, (n.d.), and that 75% of girls with low self-esteem reported that the other listed negative activities were cutting, bullying, smoking, drinking, or disordered
We lie all the time, lying is not something new to our culture. We lie to our parents, we lie to our friends, we even lie to our significant other, but why do we do it? There is not one set reason on why we lie but they can vary from an insignificant reason to something more nefarious. A good operational definition of a lie is “A lie is a false statement to a person or group made by another person or group who knows it is not the whole truth, intentionally.” (Freitas-Magalhães) We have been raised to know that lying is usually a bad thing, and it’s better to tell the truth, not to mention the circumstances get exponentially worse if you are caught lying. No one wants to be labeled as a liar, or untrustworthy. This may sound unorthodox but I personally think lying is perfectly fine; depending on the situation. If you have a prima-facie duty to be dishonest it’s perfectly acceptable. Ross says a prima facie duty or obligation is an actual duty. “One’s actual duty is what one ought to do all things considered.” (Carson) I’m not the only one who finds this too be true. Ross would also agree with me, He says “Lying is permissible or obligatory when the duty not to lie conflicts with a more important or equal important prima facie duty.” (Carson) As I was doing research on this topic I did read one extremely compelling argument on why we ought not to lie. Aristotle basically said a person who makes a defense for lying could never be trusted. (King.)
The overwhelming idea of thinness is probably the most predominant and pressuring standard. Tiggeman, Marika writes, “This is not surprising when current societal standards for beauty inordinately emphasize the desirability of thinness, an ideal accepted by most women but impossible for many to achieve.” (1) In another study it is noted that unhealthy attitudes are the norm in term of female body image, “Widespread body dissatisfaction among women and girls, particularly with body shape and weight has been well documented in many studies, so much so that weight has been aptly described as ‘a normative discontent’”. (79) Particularly in adolescent and prepubescent girls are the effects of poor self-image jarring, as the increased level of dis...
At a young age, one starts to develop self-esteem. It is an important part of self-concept that is used in physical, academic and social domains (Baudson, Weber & Freund). The pressure to be perfect seems to be on the rise. Perfect in appearance/physical abilities, education and social relationships with peers, parents and teachers. These things are critical in the development of adolescences. When looking at the media, it is easily defined as being successful, having good looks and popularity. As a whole can be hard to attain all aspects, leading to a feeling of inadequacy (Baudson, Weber & Freund).
Mastering the art of lying has been a continuous development for humanity. Over the centuries, lying has become a necessity in today’s modern world. The Merriam Webster dictionary defines a lie as “to make an untrue statement with intent to deceive.” Even though lying is condemned, lying is something everyone falls victim to. For many people, lying is a widespread habit that saves both time and pain. Whether lying is necessary to escape consequences or implying a false statement to deceive or persuade, lying has become a complex form of art. If mastered carefully, it can be useful when dealing with this crazy beautiful thing we call life. Using a lie incorrectly can result in the consequences of having a negative effect on lives. Lying is found in many forms and variations depending on the situation it is used in. Lies are obstacles that make one unable to communicate with people.