Why Me?

Many things in society are influenced by public opinion. Companies renounce products, people buy bigger homes and faster cars, and city-states conquer one another just to prove something to the public or world, whether it be their monetary status, military supremacy, or marketing strategy. We all know it’s there; the question is, why? Why would someone try to impress peers, citizens, or even other nations? Why is there that desire to be approved of? Essentially, the way we act usually affects the way people think of us.

Most people have the desire to be wanted by other people. If someone were to feel unneeded, or even completely ignored, as William James described, he or she would feel as if his or her life were unnecessary. This means that people must find a way to feel needed. This usually comes in the form of having friends. Obviously, if someone thinks poorly of another person, he or she most likely will not become friends with the person.

Most people also find it difficult to not care what others think of them for the previously mentioned reasons. They want to be thought of as a good person, or sometimes even a great person. The sense of being respected gives one a sense of accomplishment; being shunned provides defeat and sadness. People have the instinctive desire to impress people they meet, hence the saying, “first impressions last.” People care so much about what others think about them because what others think is essentially what creates the “SOCIAL ME.”

How we act most definitely affects what others think of us; if this weren’t true, the whole concept of the “SOCIAL ME” would be obsolete. Most people perceive others’ characters by the way that they act. The SOCIAL ME is created by what others think, so what others think obviously affects the SOCIAL ME. If a politician were involved in an illegal music piracy ring, the public would most likely think of this person as sneaky and corrupted, or even criminal. Everything someone does in public adds up to the common perception of that person. Basically, what we do I public defines ourselves to other people.

An important aspect of people is one’s social perception; it can be a true and genuine representation of that person, or a façade created by that person or someone else. Generally, it is very hard for most people to not care what others think of them; what people think of them defines their SOCIAL ME. To ignore what other people think of themselves would necessitate the people to create their own SOCIAL MEs.