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Influences

Decent Essays

Watching the news, to today's morning headline, to even a ad on someone's favorite app, can show violence, murder, and everything evil. Right vs wrong, good vs evil is a common fight in real life. People are born naturally good, it's what they choose to do that changes that. Everyone starts initially good, yet daily influences all reflect whether if they are good or bad.
Walking outside, turning on the television, and even talking to friends and families, all influence whether someone is good or bad. Influences that shape us are everywhere, and someone who is a dream come true for psychology are babies. Newborns have little influences because they have had limited access to the outside world. Yale University researchers have conducted a test, …show more content…

Some influences are good, while others are not. Influences are important because they shape our daily lives and actions. One major influence in a teenager’s life, are their friends. Good behavior by peers can spread through friends, but bad behavior can also have that same effect (Ulene). Although they are teens who prefer partying than doing homework or fistfights to team sports, it may have not necessarily been those teen are bad friends or people. What parents should be worried about is the more extreme bad influences friends could have, the unhealthy behavior. Teens whose friends smoke, drink or use drugs, for example, are more likely to indulge in those behaviors themselves (Ulene). Yet obviously not all friends are bad influences, friends can also be a positive influence. Strong-willed friends can increase a person’s self-control. A 2013 study published in Psychological Science reports that when people are running low on self-control, they often seek out self-disciplined people to boost their willpower (Morin). Spending time with a disciplined friend could boost motivation to maintain healthy habits, whether it's doing homework or not spending all their money on a dress, that will only be worn once. As stated previously, it's likely to start acting like the people one surrounds themselves with. By picking friends who make poor choices, one could get dragged down fast. But, if someone choose …show more content…

At the start of the novel Ralph, who we can compare him to the babies from BabyLab, is naturally good at first he when he arrives on the island. He wishes to keep order and create a civilization, until he and the others are rescued. Ralph is even elected leader of the boys, but he is greatly influenced by the character Simon (the good) and Jack (the bad). Simon is the only “naturally” good character in the entire book of Lord of the Flies, unlike the other boys he refuses to harm the other boys and enter chaos. Simon influences and keeps Ralph on track of building the huts and therefore their civilization. Simon’s sense of morality is not imposed by society, unlike Jack who is Simon's complete opposite. Jack represents evil, or that bad friend influence from before, while Simon is the good friend influence. Yet what character are Jack and Simon influencing? Besides all the other boys on the island, the main focus is the major influence both boys have on Ralph. While Ralph is the first leader of the island, in the earlier parts of the novel, he is unable to understand why the other boys would give in their savage animalistic bloodlust. Yet as the novel progresses, when Ralph hunts a boar for the first time, he experiences the exhilaration and thrill of bloodlust and violence. The “evil” frenemy of Jack, influences the younger boys to become barbaric versions

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