A world of performers.

Today, we were asked to contribute our opinions on what makes a 'worthwhile' performance. The word 'perform' is such a broad term and has so many connotations that I'm not even going to attempt to get into that today but I'd like to give you something to think about that involves theories from my other subject, which is psychology, to try and understand further the term 'performance' and what consitutes to it being worthwhile? Research in evolutionary psychology suggests that in comparison to ancestral times, today’s humans are experiencing the increasing need to compete in many aspects of their lives, for example, for jobs and mates. This could be due to the fact that in ancestral times, humans would group into colonies of approximately 24/25, therefore competition would be minimal. In comparison to today’s society where we are basically a world of connections, thanks to the internet, it is no surprise that nowadays we feel under pressure to present ourselves positively, in competition with the millions (perhaps billions) of images of beautiful people that are plastered over the internet and the media. With this in mind, it is no wonder that performing comes natural to us, we have an innate biological drive that makes us want to be the best (another bit of useless info- researchers suggest that the fact that we are in constant competition with the rest of the world is linked to rising numbers in depression). Going back to the question, it could be considered that a 'worthwhile' performance is where a successful presentation of oneself is given to reach a particular goal. Just soemthing to think about ...