DESTRUCTIVE CAUSES OF IMITATION

Destructive Causes of Imitation

Gabriela Torres Balccer

Pontificia Universidad Catlica Madre y Maestra

Campus Santo Toms de Aquino

Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

DESTRUCTIVE CAUSES OF IMITATION

Do not repeat after me words that you do not understand. Do not merely put on a mask
of my ideas, for it will be an illusion and you will thereby deceive yourself. Jiddu
Krishnamurti

Destructive causes of imitation

Nowadays, kids and teenagers are characterized for their love and admiration of different
public idols, such as artists, historical characters, and political characters. This type of
appreciation subordinates the young minds, and it alters their appearance, and their ways of
thinking and acting. But, which are the reasons that take the infant and the teenager to follow the
behavior and the style of someone else? During child growth, he or she learns how he or she has
to behave through imitation. Children choose, as their first model, one of their parents and, in
some cases, their big brother or sister; when they continue growing, their models start to change
and they start to become more complex, because the reasons they are chosen go beyond learning.
The role models are chosen for appreciation of way of thinking, life style, physical appearance,
and other reasons.
Imitation is a natural process of human nature, but not always the reasons of its practice
come from a positive source. The causes that provoke a harmful grade of imitation are insecurity,
envy, and the rejection to his or her own person.
Insecurity is the number one reason why people copy behavior patterns from another
person. It often affects people so unstable that supply their emptiness appropriating someone
else characteristics of others and may even get to the assault and harassment (Dangerous causes
and effects of imitation of identity, 2009). This type of imitation is considered an illness. In these

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cases, the imitator feels identified with someone who he or she thinks is superior. The
psychologist of the Dar Salud Medical Center, Patricia Canales, affirms that normally this
disorder is suffered by impressionable people, weak of character, who need the approval of other
because the concept that they have about themselves is so low that they use this medium as an
alternative to escape, and to feel better. This process isnt normal because the imitator starts to
dress, talk, move and do things exactly as the one he or she is imitating and it ends creating an
awkward situation where the one imitated person feels scared, irritated, and confused. The
chosen model is usually somebody who is appreciated and respected by all, because they want
the same; they are afraid to show to the world who they really are, because they cant bear the
idea of being rejected, and most of the time they dont even know who they are.
One of the most powerful and aggressive reasons for imitating someone is envy. When
we imitate somebody, theres always a previous identification. This empathy arises from our
own experience that we think is characteristic of triumphs and merits that we want to possess and
to conquer (Canales, 2009). So, when we are copying someone its because deep inside we want
to be exactly like that person, and we want to have what the other one has; in that order, we
assume the idea if we imitate someone we would get the same. For making an example of this
situation, the psychologist wrote about Lisa and Sara; Lisa is a young woman who was
starting her first job, and Sara is a business woman with a family, a good car, and a good house.
She explains that Sara decided to guide Lisa with the job, and at first, they became really good
friends. But Lisa began to dress exactly as Sara, but Sara found it flattering; until the day, she
came home, and found Lisa in her house playing with her kids, making dinner and looking just
like her. When Sara confronted Lisa, she reacted really aggressive, and she started to defend
herself saying that she had always dressed in that way and she just wanted to return the favor.

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This type of imitation is considered by specialist as a mental illness. In the mind of the imitator,
he or she thinks that acting and looking like the person they want to be, this person just needs to
disappear to take his or her place. In this way, they could be accepted and loved by society. This
is the inability to achieve goals.
The rejection of their own person is a weird cause of sickly imitation, but is also a
dangerous one. In the dictionary definition, personality is the particular combination
of emotional, attitudinal, and behavioral response patterns of an individual. The ego, who the
person is, includes biological aspects inherited from parents, and other ones acquired by
education, environment and imitations that are learned because of social and psychological
influences. But, what happens when the individual hates everything related to those influences?
And why would he hate them? This kind of reaction is associated to people who have been
abused in childhood or who are grown in violent environments. In cases less severe, the rejection
is a result of embarrassment; a particular case to mention is related to the children of parents with
humble jobs who have the opportunity to attend a good school. They deny their origins in front
of their friends, and they start to act exactly as their group of friends. In extreme cases, the
person responds to the first signs of affection; at the beginning, the person shows gratitude, but
then she or he tries to be like this person who they think has the life that they would like to have.
Aristotle said that the power which distinguishes us as human beings is our ability to
imitate. We learned how to speak, to act, to dress, and, after learning from our models to imitate,
we start to discover who we are and what we are. The negative causes, which were mentioned
before, are the results of bad situations that some persons have to live during the course of their
lives. Imitation becomes a defense mechanism to live a normal life, and to be accepted by the
rest of the world. Those three causes, insecurity, envy, and rejection are just three of many

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reasons why people tend to seek patterns of behavior. But because their minds have been
damaged they cant realize how dangerous their actions are and how much pain they can
provoke. Another situation, which occurs in extreme cases, is the incapability to regulate how
much they are taking from the person they admire.

To imitate is not a dangerous instrument, because we all copy some aspects that we see in
our environment to know how to act in society. When we were kids, we applied imitation taking
as our role models our parents, or our big brother, or sister. But the results vary according to the
quantity of positive and negative stimulus that the kid is receiving. Child development should be
interested in his or her personality improvement. With appropriate development of personality,
role model will just provide a basis during the growing process, and the kid, and the teenager
might have the sources to choose good role models.

DESTRUCTIVE CAUSES OF IMITATION

References

Bloom, F. P. (2003). Victims of Envy. Retrieved from St. Mary Valley Bloom:
http://stmaryvalleybloom.org/29ordinary-b.html
Dangerous causes and effects of imitation of identity. (2009, February 5). Retrieved from Terra:
http://www.terra.cl/zonamujer/index.cfm?id_cat=2007&id_reg=1116730
Heyes, C. (2001, June). Causes and consecuences of imitation. Retrieved from Group Cosco:
http://www.cs.helsinki.fi/group/cosco/Teaching/CoscoSeminar/spring2007/articles/heyes2001.pdf
Imitation of a incorrect gesture. (2014, March 8). Retrieved from Todo natacin:
http://www.todonatacion.com/Gran_tecnica/causasPsicologicas.php?pasado=imitacion