The word “malleable” is not frequently used by people to describe emotions or events. “Malleable” is more often used as a scientific term to describe metal. In particular, malleable metal can be worked, hammered, or shaped under pressure or blow. From an economic perspective, the word “malleable” is used to describe a person who is influenced by commercials. In technical terms, “malleable” refers to a pliable or tractable object. Nevertheless, the word “malleable” can also be used to describe a personality type. A malleable person prefers to agree with an opponent rather than start a debate. A malleable person is easily influenced by emotional pressure. Malleability is a personality trait describing an individual who is flexible, willing to accept the opinion of others, and lacks the confidence to put forward his personal opinion.
Malleability is rather positive than a negative trait. From a feministic perspective, malleability is the train that should be eliminated in a female character. Nevertheless, a malleable woman becomes an ideal wife who listens to her husband and accepts all his ideas as her own. The malleable wife will not start arguing and prevent conflict situations. Nevertheless, a malleable person will never become a leader because of a lack of ability and desire to protect his point of view. The malleable person will never gain the interest of big segments of the population because he is easily influenced. It does not mean that a malleable leader lacks knowledge, it means that a malleable leader is not able to defend his position.
The term “malleable” can be used to describe the elderly. The well-known conflict of generations is based on the principle of malleability. Older people are not willing to accept the lifestyle imposed by the new generation. Older people do not understand the fashion and diverse movements support by their grandchildren. However, grandmothers and grandparents, at least the majority of them, prefer to remain malleable and not to intrude into the life of their children because they want to prevent possible conflicts caused by the gap in culture and vision of life. From this perspective, the elderly are malleable because they do not want to protect their point of view. It is hard to assess whether the malleability of the elderly is positive or negative. From one side, grandparents prefer being malleable because they cannot understand their grandchildren. On the other side, they remain malleable not to cause conflicts.
Malleability might be used to describe a person who is influenced by commercials. The negative, but powerful, the influence of commercials on buying decisions has already been researched by many scholars. Not every person who sees a commercial of Coca-Cola will decide to quit drinking Pepsi. Not every person will be influenced by commercials promising the attention of women if the product (shower gel) is bought. However, many malleable people are every easily influenced by messages in commercials. Moreover, all of the commercials are aimed at malleable people. The aim of marketing specialists is not to inform the public about the new product, but rather to reach the audience of malleable people.
Every person encounters situations when it is better to remain malleable. For example, when two individuals are arguing, one of them will eventually give up. This person can be referred to as malleable because he decided that recognizing the arguments of an opponent (at least orally) is a more wise decision compared to a possible fight at the end. Malleability can be a deciding factor in the success of a failure. If the employee rejects the new rules imposed by his supervisor, he is at risk of losing his job. While if he remains malleable, he will have an opportunity to build a career within the company. In conclusion, malleability is neither good nor bad, and every person has to make his own choice on the position in life.