The quest for external validation:
I attended a test today, and found a lot of friends there for the same purpose. After the challenging test, we started buzzing like a swarm of bees, asking one another, "Hey, what answer did you get for this question?" "Did you answer all the questions?", "Are you sure this is the right answer for this question?"
In a world where we are expected to trust our own judgement and be independent, why do we still look for others to confirm that we are doing the right thing?
It is the quest for external validation, a human tendency. Man is a social animal, patently guilty of the safety in numbers principle, sometimes derogatoraly referred to as the herd mentality. We need to be constantly told that our house is in order. We need the validation from others.
Not only do individuals require external validation from other individuals, but communities need external validation from other communities. The hordes of Japanese youth in Harajuku sporting blond hair is an attempt for external validation from the West. Even the Japanese pop scene has been modeled around the West, where pop icons are vertically marketed and branded with the youth in mind. Even a proud community like the Japanese occasionally look for external validation.
We give more weightage to external validation from certain individuals and communities, and less weightage to external validation from other individuals and communities. A few years ago, an Indian movie starring a Tamil superstar became popular in Japan. Indians were very pleased, because Japan, a developed country, a technologically advanced country, accepted one of their movies, so they felt they must be doing something right. The fans of the superstar were all the more pleased, and used it to build their hero's brand. The external validation from a powerful nation was valued.
If we follow the tendency to look for external validation, there will be no end to it. But the world belongs to those who assert their ideas with confidence. If we keep looking for external validation, we would be like the centipede which doesn't know which leg should move first. Our indecision would incapacitate us and impede our progress. Resist the natural tendency to look for external validation. Be assertive, we are as right as anyone else in this world.
I attended a test today, and found a lot of friends there for the same purpose. After the challenging test, we started buzzing like a swarm of bees, asking one another, "Hey, what answer did you get for this question?" "Did you answer all the questions?", "Are you sure this is the right answer for this question?"
In a world where we are expected to trust our own judgement and be independent, why do we still look for others to confirm that we are doing the right thing?
It is the quest for external validation, a human tendency. Man is a social animal, patently guilty of the safety in numbers principle, sometimes derogatoraly referred to as the herd mentality. We need to be constantly told that our house is in order. We need the validation from others.
Not only do individuals require external validation from other individuals, but communities need external validation from other communities. The hordes of Japanese youth in Harajuku sporting blond hair is an attempt for external validation from the West. Even the Japanese pop scene has been modeled around the West, where pop icons are vertically marketed and branded with the youth in mind. Even a proud community like the Japanese occasionally look for external validation.
We give more weightage to external validation from certain individuals and communities, and less weightage to external validation from other individuals and communities. A few years ago, an Indian movie starring a Tamil superstar became popular in Japan. Indians were very pleased, because Japan, a developed country, a technologically advanced country, accepted one of their movies, so they felt they must be doing something right. The fans of the superstar were all the more pleased, and used it to build their hero's brand. The external validation from a powerful nation was valued.
If we follow the tendency to look for external validation, there will be no end to it. But the world belongs to those who assert their ideas with confidence. If we keep looking for external validation, we would be like the centipede which doesn't know which leg should move first. Our indecision would incapacitate us and impede our progress. Resist the natural tendency to look for external validation. Be assertive, we are as right as anyone else in this world.
posted by Vasanth Seshadri at 12:46 AM
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