Essay on Social Influences on Behavior

To what extent is the phrase “You are what you eat” true? Have you ever heard of the term bad and good influence? The people around you are a more extensive description of you than you may realize, maybe not initially, but over time, you start behaving like them, thinking like them, and you may also begin to change aspects of yourself to fit in. For example, on your first day in a new school, you may be nervous or slightly thrilled about what this new place holds for you and the people you will spend the rest of the year with. If you go and choose what people might call the wrong types of friends as your companions, you may fall into a toxic friendship that requires you to feed yourself all kinds of negative thoughts and choices. To keep up with the expectations and unrealistic standards, you may develop depression and anxiety and make poor choices to impress your friends, like taking drugs or vaping. 

There may be a constant need to swallow your pride since taunting and ridiculing is a prime characteristic of a toxic friendship; if there is something different about you that does not adjust well with the group’s overall vibe, you may be repeatedly teased and pointed at until you change that aspect of yourself in which case you have become just like them and lose your individuality. You may tell your new friends something in confidence. The next day, everyone might know your secret. You may have to participate in hurtful gossip and rumors about someone, resulting in a lack of trust in people and becoming indifferent to other people's feelings. In the end, you may not initially be the type of person to gossip, take drugs, or be hurtful, but hanging out with people who feed you negativity all the time will result in you becoming precisely what you are fed. At the same time, choosing a more respectful and humbler group of friends will have the opposite effect. 

The good qualities of your classmates will start to find their way into your personality; for example, if your friend group takes part in healthy activities like early morning jogging, community services, or even study clubs, you will automatically find yourself in the same position. Feeding yourself good choices will result in you developing a healthier personality and becoming someone with a better ability to differentiate between right and wrong.

In conclusion, the environment and people around you greatly influence the type of person you become; hence, it’s essential to carefully pick out the friends you choose to surround yourself with, as their qualities will become yours someday. Yet some people might disagree with this statement, but if you stand with people jumping in a muddy puddle, you too will get splattered with mud.