Geet (TikToker)

Geet
Born	Delhi, New Delhi, India
Occupation	Social media personality (TikToker) Social activist Lawyer
Years active	2015-present
Known for	TikTok

Geet is an Indian motivational speaker, educator, social activist and former lawyer. She rose to prominence through social media platforms, and gained popularity on the platforms TikTok and Facebook. She is one of the most prominent TikTok users in India, with over 6 million followers. She is known for her social work, helping children from the slums.

Biography

Geet was born in Delhi to a traditional Indian family and was raised in Seattle, United States. She suffered a major spinal cord injury at the age of 10 in a car accident which left her paralysed. She had initially dreamt of becoming a film actress, but the accident seemed to have dashed those hopes. However, despite her disability, she took part in a reality television show called India's Best Cinestars Ki Khoj on Zee TV and while not making it to the final round, had gained the confidence she needed to reignite her dreams of acting.

Career

Having studied engineering and obtained a doctorate degree in law, Geet worked as a practising lawyer in a law firm in the US, before moving to New Delhi with her parents to engage in social service. Quitting her job as a lawyer before the move, she started up an NGO in India focused on helping slum children.

In August 2015, she started posting inspirational motivational stories through her official Facebook account, before venturing into other social media platforms. Geet opened her official TikTok account in February 2019, and started making 15-second videos on TikTok related to relationships, love, and life. She goes by the name Geet on TikTok. She also started to teach spoken American English to her followers through one of the channels on her TikTok account during the lockdown, which was imposed due to the COVID-19 pandemic in India.

In June 2020, the Indian government banned the use of TikTok in the country due to ongoing tensions with China. As of December 2020, she is no longer active on the platform.

Inaccurate Claims

Although Ms. Geet does not have a degree in Psychology, she is popular for her "psychological" reels and advice. Most of these are found to not have any scientific study or research backing them.

Personality Tests

In a reel captioned ‘Fun personality test’ Ms. Geet shows an image and says "If you see a tree that means you are very energetic, you like to try new things and go on new adventures without thinking much. Whereas if you see a face you like to plan things and you are more comfortable if you make a schedule and follow it", and claims this to be what experts say, without citing any sources.

However, studies have shown this to be inaccurate. Such images or videos are called silhouette illusions. Dr. Troje and his team studied the popular spinning silhouetted woman illusion that had gone viral and found that it is the angle that makes the viewer see it in a certain way, not one’s personality. The researchers also stated that this theory can be applied to other popular illusions that are often used in online personality tests, such as the ones used by Ms. Geet in her reels dated 24 May 2021, 10 May 2021 and many more in which she uses generic statements like ‘If you see a fish you are laidback, if you see a girl you are romantic, if you see an elephant you like to plan ahead’.

"The Barnum effect, also known as Forer effect occurs when individuals believe that personality descriptions apply specifically to them (more so than to other people), despite the fact that the description is actually filled with information that applies to everyone. The effect means that people are gullible because they think the information is about them only when in fact the information is generic."

On Identifying Liars

In a reel captioned ‘Psychology facts: Catch a liar over the phone’, Ms. Geet says there are 4 ways to know if someone is lying over call, namely – 1. Liars talk faster, 2. They will cough or clear throat for no reason, 3. Voice will be at a higher pitch, 4. They will talk more than necessary. However, an article on Deception Detection published on the American Psychological Association's website says that "Research has consistently shown that people's ability to detect lies is no more accurate than chance, or flipping a coin. This finding holds across all types of people." Early theories on lying assumed that liars will exhibit stress-based cues (like talking faster or in a high pitch) because they fear being caught and feel guilty about lying. But, “there really is no Pinocchio’s nose” says Judee Burgoon, PhD, a professor of communication at the University of Arizona. The view now is that the interaction between deceiver and observer is a strategic interplay.

Tips to Impress Girls

In a reel captioned ‘Psychology facts: Ladki ko impress karne ke tips’ (trans: Tips to impress girls) Ms. Geet says "According to psychology, women are attracted to men who initiate and lead the conversation". While studies have shown that most women prefer to be asked out and most men prefer to do the asking, it has often been proved that "gender differences are minimized when women feel that they can avoid being stigmatized for their behavior. They don’t like being socially punished for taking initiative."

Another extensive research study by Hrdy suggests, "The traditional view that females naturally take a passive role in sexual selection is a result of relatively recent social ideologies and is neither evolutionarily or biologically relevant." Hence, these thoughts contribute to the propagation of age old ideologies and resulting stigma for women in romantic relationships.

Anger

In a reel captioned ‘Psychology Facts: Anger’, Ms. Geet says, "A person who gets extremely angry, needs love and affinity the most". However, love or affinity or anything remotely similar is not mentioned as a treatment/necessary for people with anger management issues as per American Psychological Association. In fact, anger outbursts can be a sign of abuse, and encouraging the people to “love” them without providing further context can be highly detrimental.

External links

• TikTok Predictions
• Instagram page - theofficialgeet
• Instagram page - deargeet