Question

What defines us?
What do you think? I would like some opinions. :)

Answer 1

Well I'll go by the approaches as we know, and then I'll give you my view.

1. Reciprocal Determinism - there are essentially 3 factors that influence our behavior, more essentially us: environment, personal characteristics, and behavior.

2. Gordon Allport's Trait Theory - there are levels of traits, some that are extremely defining, then some that shapes most of our behavior, and a few that appear in only certain situations that deviate our general theme.

3. Rotter's Social Learning Theory - Our personality depends on our locus of control. An internal locus means that we take accountability over our actions, whether of good or bad interest. An external would mean blaming outside forces.

4. Mischel's Cognitive Affective Personality Systems - we develop 'behavioral signatures' when we respond consistently to similar situations, which characterizes our personality.

5. Carl Jung Analytic Theory of Personality - our personality has ancestral roots, and we have a personal unconsciousness and a collective unconsciousness, which are memories that are shared by all humans. IMO pretty weird to think at first but it's true in a way. Ancient fears and themes recur throughout human evolution

Clearly it depends on two things, nature and nurture.

Answer 2

@justjm I want YOUR opinion. What do you think defines us human beings?

Answer 3

Well I'd say experiences and how we react to them and the consistent attitudes we use. Nature is pretty strong but only for a bit. Nurture (life experiences) eventually define us. What do you think?

Answer 4

A lot of stuff xd I probably will never end this but meh
[Disclaimer: I am writing this out as I think. There will be a lot of derp stuff that I will not catch. I will also miss a lot of points.]

Your perspective makes you different from anyone else. No one is in the same exact shoes you are in and will experiences something different than everyone else has no matter how close you are to any person.

*I want to say experiences but you can also suppose that if someone were to lose their memory for any reason, they would still be the same person physically but not mentally. I guess this brings out another question, how are we defining "us"? Us as humanity? Or as a person? (This is too deep. Opinions you ask, opinions I give)

If we are defining as humanity, then there is a lot more to add. People are connected by the similarity in experiences and features. We empathize with each other and (for the most part) are willing to work together to solve something. We are very social beings.

If we are defining it by person then you can say that your physical appearance is something that defines who you are. You are unique physically to anyone else (unless we start creating clones. Which probably exists at this point but thats a rare case).
[If you want to be absurdly technical, your genes are different from everyone elses].


If I were to condense and [over]simplify my thoughts on what makes you... you, then I would say that you are merely the collection of experiences, thought process, bonds... and whatever your mom and dad gave you xd

Answer 5

Hmm

Answer 6

Yeah good points @dude it's honestly several things. A gene might mutate and change someone completely, like you said. And true, it depends on if it's on humanity in general or the individual itself

Answer 7

I feel like death or fear defines us.

Answer 8

The way we act is based on so many fears tucked away in the back of our thoughts that we don’t even realize we’re thinking about it. Actions, things we say, it’s mostly because of fears of paranoia of doing the wrong or right thing whilst talking and acting. But that’s just my opinion. I don’t want to sit here and talk about this for hours because I really and I mean REALLY can discuss this for hours but I won’t, it’s just a personal opinion. It’s very debatable.

Answer 9

Fears or paranoia**

Answer 10

Fears could define because they also offer our rationale for various events and demonstrate our consistent perspectives towards things. Also it could explain what someone prefers or dislikes. But maybe it won't be applicable to someone with like general adaptation disorder where there's fears of no specific thing and for no reason.

Answer 11

I agree with you :)

Answer 12

There are a lot of things that you do that do not involve fear

- Significant others
- Your friends
- What you enjoy (want to study) is merely because you like the subject, not necessarily that you fear others


In addition to this, a lot of people do risky things with the knowledge that this could end up screwing their lives. Fear is not driving that behavior but the need to accomplish something (and adrenaline)

Answer 13

Such an interesting question. Unfortunate that I missed most of the fun. Alas, I'll leave my thoughts.

As @justjm said, and @dude emphasized, you could argue that we, humans, are simply the collection of experiences (nurture) and array of genes (nature) which we hold. Some of these distinctions are easy to discern. I may favor blue because I grew up by the ocean. Or, I may have a different opinion on sports due to my physical build. Nurture and nature can bleed into those examples through some creative ways that I need not dive into, but I mention that to prove the point that we can see some of the structure that makes up 'us.'

Yet, although we have mastered much of this planet, we still don't know much about ourselves. For example, why do we dream? Similar to your posed question, there are many proposed theories, yet definitively, we know not. This beckons a sort of budding curiosity, which veils one of humanities greatest insecurities. Whilst we know nurture and nature define us plenty, what of our consciousness? It beckons these thoughts and questions, such as the existential fear of death you mentioned. Was it gifted to us by our genes which demand the proliferation of itself? Or the stories we hear and movies we watch, depicting its devastation and aftermath? Or is it something else...that void we see when we ask...what happens after we die? What is there? Why do we exist if we are to die? A question to which humans have answered with religion. This answer supplies meaning for walking the road of life. Yet, it leaves some...still, dissatisfied.

Consciousness, the thing that has gifted us the capacity to do what we're doing right now, to question how....why? We entertain these abstracts in the field of space in our minds, drawing lines between them to discover their truths. What is humanity? Are we Adolf Hitlers, or Martin Luther King Jrs? They were both radical leaders in their given communities. They both engaged with issues of morality. Hitler brought forth revolution for his people in economic poverty. MLK saw the injustice being done to his fellow African Americans. We can easily side with MLK as being moral, and call Hitler morally reprehensible. Yet I'll say something vastly controversial. Is it all that black and white?

Entertain this, because it's an interesting thought. What Hitler did, made him a monster. But there's an intriguing argument by Bret Weinstein, a professor of biology, who argues that he was a 'rational' monster. That what he did, was increasing the capacity for his 'people' to survive, a "latent program" if you will, that lies in our genes. We see its activity in day to day life, when a father endures work so that his children, his genes, can go onward. Hitler simply applied that program, to what he considered to be proper Germans.

And in that cacophony of madness that I just presented, you see all these themes at work. Nature (genes) at play in Hitlers plans, nurtured by his experiences as a German, in war, in prison, experiencing the economic downturns in his country. In this, he found meaning, to increase not only his own capacity to survive by climbing the political ladder (dominance hierarchy), but, his entire 'species.' And in this, is legacy. A model which humans cling to in the face of death, as a form of immortality. The existential fear of death is beckoned by the knowledge of our mortality, but if you pass on your experiences which were wrought by your nature, to your children, or 'your people,' then in a sense death isn't quite the end.

I bring up this controversial example because of something @dude said: "How are we defining us?" Is to be human means that any one of us could have been Hitler? I think so.

I wanted to explore Carl Jung and archetypes as @justjm mentioned but this post is already long enough as is. Hope it was a worthy addition. Thanks for the fun question.

Answer 14

Also here's a video of Bret Weinstein talking about what I mentioned: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxqpq0wM3Ms&t=0s

Answer 15

DNA

Answer 16

Our behaviors and attitudes towards other people. The way we interact with others

Answer 17

Thank you for everyone that participated.

Answer 18

Lol when I posted this, site was lagging a bit. Gonna delete the 2nd reply.

Answer 19

It's okay, it was like that when justjm did it too

Answer 20

our status honestly which affects everything, including appearance, intelligence, gender, money, pretty much everything about us as a person on social media and in person to, in my opinion.