I should have majored in Psychology. Every time I ponder a subject for a post, I think about how the topic relates back to so many different emotions. It takes me for.ev.er. to write a post because my thoughts are going a million different directions, and it’s hard to simplify into something you’d want to read. (This is with the assumption that you actually find what I write interesting…)
For this post, I started thinking about assumptions. I read somewhere, some place, that our brain compartmentalizes new information with like known information in order to help us process. (That’s the gist of what I remember. I read this a long time ago.) But then I got to thinking about judgments, and why we tend to judge people.
Because I love analyzing and defining: (that’s totally not sarcastic btw):
judg·ment
1. the ability to make considered decisions or come to sensible conclusions.
/ˈjəjmənt/
as·sump·tion
1. a thing that is accepted as true or as certain to happen, without proof.
/əˈsəm(p)SH(ə)n/
If I had to guess, and I truly mean guess, because I am not educated on the human brain, I would say that we judge someone based on compartmentalized previous information, then we assume that it’s accurate based on that compartmentalized previous information. You follow?
Then this creates norms. Norms are social expectations that guide behavior.
For example:
If we see someone with an oversized white t-shirt, sagging baggy jeans, tattoos, and a shaved head with a bandana, I’m going to judge that guy as a gangster and assume this is correct based on prior knowledge. Then I’m going to alter my behavior based on my fear that gangsters are dangerous.
This is a societal norm because of how gangsters are typically portrayed in media, and in a lot of cases, IRL. It is not racism; it is not discrimination. However, it is stereotyping which is an entirely different post. (See, this is what I mean, one thing leads to another!) This is just how our brains work – to the best of my knowledge. Again, not formally educated on the subject.
You always hear that people are quick to judge others. But maybe that’s not necessarily a bad thing. The bad thing is assuming that judgment is correct. Judgment is just helping us process what we see. But just because we perceive it as we judge, that doesn’t mean we should assume it to be true.
Don’t get me wrong, I am t o t a l l y guilty of this. We can make judgments and assumptions based on what we see, but when 90% of the iceberg is below the water line, you have to be open-minded enough to possibly change what you assumed to be true – even if it goes against the norm.
