Unit 1 Face values

Using language

5 Listen to the speech. Choose the title that best describes the topic and give your reasons.

Hello, and thank you for coming. The subject of this speech is self-image, that is, your opinion of your own appearance, abilities, and personality. As we know, psychologists often perform experiments to learn more about human character and behaviour. Today, I'm going to talk about a psychological experiment from 1991. It's called the Scar Experiment.

This experiment was created by a psychologist called Dr Robert Kleck. First, he found ten volunteers and put each of them into a different room without mirrors. Next, he drew an ugly fake scar on each volunteer's face using make-up—the sort of make-up they use in Hollywood films. Then he took out a mirror and showed the volunteers their scars. Next, Dr Kleck pretended to improve the scars, but actually removed the make-up. So the volunteers thought they had scars, but they didn't.

After that, the volunteers were told to go outside, and take note of how people reacted to them. They did this, and came back. They all reported that people were ruder and less kind to them, and that people stared at their scars. As a result, they felt very uncomfortable. However, they didn't really have scars! The volunteers imagined that other people had changed their behaviour, but actually they had not.

As you can see, there's an important lesson here. It doesn't matter how we actually look—the only thing that's important is how we feel about ourselves.

To sum up, who we are is in our heads. It's not how we look on the outside that matters, but how we feel on the inside. If we choose to be happy and positive, then we will feel that way. If we show a happy and positive face to the world, we will get one back in return.

I hope you've enjoyed the speech. Thank you, and remember: your true self lies within.