Plastic surgery – vanity and safety

Global Courant

According to Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, an individual has five levels of needs; Physiological (basics, food, water, shelter), security (safety of body, work, resources, material possessions), social needs/belonging (friendship, family, intimacy, etc.), esteem (self-esteem, recognition, trust, etc.) .), self-actualization (when the individual does something for himself based on his beliefs and morals, achieved after all other needs have been met).

According to Maslow, at all levels below the level of self-actualization (except for the physiological needs), when a person does not meet these needs, he will feel uncomfortable and tense. Therefore, the individual must first satisfy the lower needs (also known as the deficiency needs) before moving to the next level. Under these levels or hierarchy of needs, we could say that vanity and security would fall under the third and fourth needs respectively, although vanity could also fall under the valuation level.

When we look at advertisements, websites and TV shows about cosmetic surgery, patients or individuals have that desire to be beautiful. Most of these people’s reasons for undergoing surgery is to satisfy their vanity. But what exactly is vanity? and why is it important to people?

Vanity is one’s exaggerated belief in one’s own abilities and attractiveness which, according to the concept developed by Dr. Isiah Greene (who bases his concept on Pierre Bourdieu’s concept of capital), creates erotic capital for a person. Erotic capital is the power of one person created by his or her sexual attraction to other people. This means that the more attractive a person is, the more influence he or she has over the people he or she attracts.

Of course, by having more erotic capital, it would be easier for a person to be accepted and to satisfy that need for connection with his or her peers. In this regard, plastic surgery provides or satisfies a person’s psychological need by providing that person with an investment of erotic capital.

Security, on the other hand, is the measure of one’s emotional stability. The more stable the person’s emotions are, the higher his or her ability to be happy. If a person is emotionally secure, his happiness cannot be shaken as easily as that of someone who is emotionally insecure. To have stable emotional security, one must have high self-esteem.

Self-esteem is a reflection of one’s concept of self-worth. If the person holds themselves in high esteem, one can have high self-esteem or self-confidence without necessarily being arrogant.

Plastic surgery provides this psychological need for individuals, especially if that person has suffered insecurities due to physical abnormalities. People who have suffered emotional trauma due to ridicule and ridicule usually have low self-confidence and as a result will become aloof and aloof with everyone else. These individuals will sometimes compensate for their insecurities with arrogance, aggression, or bullying, which is worse than just being shy and aloof with those around them.

Therefore, Plastic Surgery is very useful and helpful for people with insecurities in this regard. By correcting their physical abnormalities, their lack of self-esteem is compensated with confidence and belief in themselves.

Essentially, cosmetic surgery has become popular in many parts of the world for its ability to help individuals achieve and satisfy their psychological needs as described by Maslow.

Plastic surgery – vanity and safety

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