The speaker consider that people's attitudes and interests can be reflected by the way they look, dress, and act, and all of these ways can also subsequently reveal the ideas and values of the whole society in which these people live. I concede these two correlations can be true through a much broad scope of perspective. Yet if we observe the situations in a transitory and short spell of time, the situation is not as same as the case pointed out in the claim.
First, many examples happened in our natural world show us from people's look, dress and act can we grasp their approximate attitudes and hobbies. For instance, an always well dressed girl in various kinds of costume patterns belonging to famous bands can to some extent indicate that this girl may be very serious about her appearance and thus is interest in dressing in a fashion. Another example that can illustrate this view lies in a taciturn student. This student is always tranquil and may even not say one word during several hours. When it comes to a case that he has to make a presentation to the professor before hundreds of other students in the same grade, he can be so nervous that be flushed immediately.
Indeed there are a host of situations can reflect the possibility of the asserted claim. However, all of these examples must add one word “always” to assure the whole situation completely right, since in lots of various conditions one person can dress different, without a correspondent capricious attitude or interest. Consider a common clerk working in a large company as a proof. When he is in his working time, he must dress in a formal way with wholly tidy and neat clothes and a pairs of well-furbished shoes. After he finishes his one day’s work, his first act when arriving home would be changing his outside suits. As we know from the case, the factor to bring about his change of his appearance is the ambience condition rather than that of his attitude.
As for another general conclusion that the outlook and behaviors of people can reflect the value of the whole society also seems to be true based on a myriad of facts existent just near us. One Asian person looks implicit from his serious actions presenting a little bit nervous, while the European and American can be very extroverted contingent on their casual dressing pattern and way of doing things. This discrepancy indicates the different value of the way to express oneself and communication between the Orient and Occident. To illustrate the case referring to the different conditions between two periods of time, consider the situation of China. Comparing to the ancient Chinese, modern people have been accustomed in a much casual and open way as a result of the development of Chinese society and globalization, which clearly indicates the great improvement in the ethic value of the society.
However, the speaker here commits a fallacy of neglect of certain likelihood again. If the objective on which the observer draws his attention is not the mainstream in the society, then he can not make any conclusion about the value of the whole society just relying on the mere fact of this unimportant group. A suitable example lies in the group composed of several teenagers who dress them up in an extreme erratic way.
In the final analysis, either of the further consideration of various factors such as the setting condition and the importance the people played in the society can undermine the exactitude of the author’s ostensible assertion.