Judging and Categorizing

Judging people/ situations and categorizing them is a process we use in order to create schema’s and not overwhelm ourselves with the mass of information we are presented on a daily basis. I believe that as a society we are socialized into behaving in certain ways. Judging and categorizing therefore is inevitable and many times unconscious. I would not say that it is impossible to not judge people, but I do believe it is highly unlikely to avoid it. This behavior is so ingrained in us that I believe that perceiving without making judgments is very difficult. In order to make judgments that are more fair one should take the schema’s that we have stored and use them as a starting point, rather than a strict rule book that predicts traits, behavior or etc. Additionally, perception checks could be a tool which can be used to make better decisions regarding the interpretation of information. Lastly, another way make fair judgments is to listen actively and closely while also paying attention to persons message content. Holding off on making judgments until one fully listens to what the speaker is truly saying might be a way to improve our ability to judge.