Role model
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This article is about a person who sets examples for others. For Eminem's song, see Role Model (song)
Role model refers to a person who fills his or her role as a good or bad example for others. A good example is a positive role model. A bad example is a negative role model. The term role model on its own is usually taken to mean a positive role model.
A positive role model carries out a role demonstrating values, ways of thinking and acting, which are considered good in that role. Others hopefully will follow the example. A woman professor can be seen as a role model for other women, on the strength of her furthering of the profile of women in academia. Alternatively, she could be seen as a role model for aspiring academics, regardless of their gender, on the strength of her academic achievements and/or dedication to her chosen discipline.
Parents can be positive role models helping their children learn adult ways or they can be negative role models.
This can be
- In Sociology the term does not necessarily imply a good example; see e.g. Observational learning.
- Morally: moral example (in ethics)
- At work: Model worker or Stakhanovite (in socialism)
The act of picking a role model consists of first evaluating what are ones own values (answering the question "what kind of things are important to me") then finding a person (usually a famous person) that exhibits a majority of those points and then emulating that person.
