We were split into groups and given a certain topic, our groups was “being confident”.
Initial Ideas:
Confident, Why?
- Self Confidence – How one feels about themselves can influence how others perceive them. Sometimes a lack of self-confidence can be hidden or masked.
- Public Speaking – An essential skill, which comes into play in everyone’s lives, be it at a wedding, teaching or presenting your potential ideas to a client.
- To Socialise – meeting new people and forming bonds with those you already know.
- Attraction – Confidence is seen as an attraction. It hints at enjoyment and stops a relationship becoming boring and monotonous. Confidence in oneself can also give confidence to your partner.
What Makes Someone Confident?
- Role Models – These can be anyone, but are often parents of celebrities.
- Upbringing - What factors of your childhood can affect how you feel about yourself. Obviously role models can be an influence, but maybe bullying at school or other negative hits can change how someone interacts later in life. If a child was miss treated or not given enough attention at a young age, this may affect them.
- Personal Experiences - Obviously this can relate to the above point, but also later on life. Maybe something unfortunate like a loss of job can break down confidence in ones abilities. In terms of physical appearance, someone could experience a horrific accident, such as burns or other forms of scarring.
- Extreme Cases/ Psychological Breakdown - Breakdown in confidence can be caused by deep underlining issues. These can be from experiences, such as the "Genie" case, where a girl was tied to a chair for the first 13 years of her life, one of the most severe cases of neglect ever recorded. She never learnt to speak, read or write and was incapable of creating a bond with anyone.
- Media – The media constantly emphasize characteristics of public figures. Celebrities never seem to be shy, and unique and bold features are encouraged. In terms of visual confidence, public figures are constantly photographed in the latest clothing trends, often in a controversial way, such as Lady Gaga’s “meat dress”.
Both Lady Gaga and Nikki Minaj (pop singers) are famous for their dress sense. In order to wear these clothes (if they can be called that!), you would need to acquire a certain confidence. Do these outrageous styles influence how others dress, and do they feel pressure into dressing individually?
Singer Jessica Simpson with "before and after" photos. Do these effect people's confidence in their bodies, in a positive and health conscious way, or do they cause anxiety and jealousy?
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Dividing into specific roles:
In our group, we chose what sub category we thought we could work with, mine being "Physical Appearance"
Primary Research:
This can be obtained quite easily, as everyone in some way expresses themselves through appearance.
- Questionnaires - I hope to produce a set of questions to ask anyone I can about their appearance. The idea of these being written down mean I can keep my information confidential if need be. I hope to either send these via email or social networking. This method is much more confidential than written, as handwriting can often give away who has written it.
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I intend on getting two separate groups to fill these out:
1. A group which receive nothing but the questions.
2. A group which receive a media - produced stimulant, such as "Hello Magazine", or watch something like "How To Look Good Naked"
This is so I can find out if the input of media and gossip magazine can change peoples opinions on their appearance.
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Questionnaire:
Age / Sex: (These could be used as a demographic to categorise confidence, and could give information as to at what age and what sex are more confident)
This Questionnaire is to be entirely confidential, and the data collected will be used strictly for research purposes. (To re - assure the person who fills it out)
1. Out of 10, with 10 being most confident, how do you feel these certain characteristics of yourself? (these should be based on confidence and not necessarily how good looking or attractive you think you are) (Quantitive data that intends to give an idea as to what characteristics people are more conscious of)
- Your facial features ........
- Your complexion/ skin ........
- Your body ........
- Fashion sense ........
2. From the above, chose your least confident characteristic and elaborate as to why you do not feel confident about it: (An open qualitive question that will give me more detail)
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3. Who pushes you to look after/ change your appearance? (please choose 2) (Quantitive data to find out about influences and possibly upbringing)
-Yourself ☐
- Friends ☐
- Partner ☐
- Parents ☐
- Siblings ☐
- Celebrities ☐
-Magazines ☐
-Other ☐
4. Please elaborate on your selected 2 as to how or why they push you:
(Qualitative data that may prompt deeper questioning of confidence)
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5. Has any experience / time period effected your confidence in a positive or negative way? (An open question that hopes to bring forward some detail on a personal experience)
Positive: ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
Negative
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Out of 10, with 10 being most confident, how do you feel about your overall appearance? (A final question that hopes to emphasise some of the previous quantitive data)
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Questionnaires Sent:
Gmail: I sent the questionnaire in my student email to people I know in LCA. I focussed on people that weren't in my class as it seemed the easiest form of communication for people I may not see everyday. This was sent to 40 people.
Facebook: Our class have a group on Facebook for organising social events, but also to help with projects. I took this opportunity to send everyone in the group (most of the class) the questionnaire. I sent it in a message as oppose to comment so it maintains confidentiality.
Quantitive Results:
People who took survey, with/ without stimulant:
15/13
Out of 10, with 10 being most confident, how do you feel about these certain characteristics of yourself? Average:
Without stimulant:
- Facial Features: 8
- Complexion Skin: 7
- Body: 7
- Fashion Sense: 7
With stimulant:
- Facial Features: 7
- Complexion Skin: 6
- Body: 6
- Fashion Sense: 8
Who pushes you to look after/ change your appearance? (top 2)
Without stimulant:
Yourself – Chosen 100% of the time
Friends – Chosen 46% of the time
With stimulant:
Yourself - Chosen 100% of the time
Friends – Chosen 20% of the time
Magazines – Chosen 16% of the time
Qualitative Results:
People’s least confidant characteristic and why they do not feel confident about it:
- Body – “There are always area of improvement, nobody is perfect”
- Jealousy – People have often expressed they feel jealous of others, both male and female – “I always see people with nice clothes and wish I had them”
- Peer pressure – they feel as if their friends pressure them into looking better, most often with clothing – “My friends are always buying clothes, and I wish I had enough money to go shopping with them”
Who pushes you to look after/ change your appearance:
- Peer pressure – Once again, people feel as if their friends influence how they should dress – “Deep down everyone likes to look nice and cares about how their friends view them”
- Partners – Often partners can give someone a huge confident boost. However, if someone is insecure, they can feel as if their partner is better looking than them, and they may not feel good enough.
- Parents – People can feel pressured by their parents to dress in a certain way. More often than not people do not care – “My parents push me to wear natural make up and have my natural hair colour”, “Mum always tells me to get down the gym”
- Magazines – As my experiment was to prove, they can significantly lower people’s confidence and cause anxiety – “because I obviously care and want to look nice, magazine influence me by fashion and style”, “I always feel like I should lose weight when I see celebs on holiday”, “I compare myself to women in magazines all the time, especially when I want motivation for losing weight”
