External Influence

Notes

Claim

External Influence is all the forces that are (allegedly) external to our own desires, beliefs, emotional state and core values, that try to impact and change those values.

Explanation

It might be political views, Social environment shapes behavior and identity through norms and conformity, random negative events, economical corporations, anything that consciously or unconsciously, purposely or purposely tries to change who we are or what we think or feel, treating us as objects. Those forces are rarely physical, they don't coerce us to act differently through brute strength, but rather through Normalizing power shapes compliance through internalized social norms, to be so embedded within a worldview that we couldn't even conceive of other ways of thinking or being.

It is not so easy to recognize what counts as external or internal since Human is a social being so our identity is often shaped through our interaction with others so much that there's no clear line between "me" and "them". Identity is shaped by and shapes our social interactions

Why it matters

Resisting these influences first requires a measure of Self Knowledge, the ability to distance ourselves from our circumstances, our culture and norms, to view it as an external observer, so that we could realize how we are affected by the forces around us. But knowing what to resist is only half the battle. It takes Emotional resilience enables managing hardship and maintaining composure to withstand these influences and maintain our Agency is the ability to connect desires and actions.

Examples

Supporters

Opposers

Open questions

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Overview

🔼Topic:: Identity Formation ◀Origin:: 🔗Link::