To Judge or Not to Judge?

Is it possible to perceive others without somewhat judging or categorizing them?  I don’t think so.  As humans we categorize and/or judge in order to process or understand another.  We frequently use the schemata of Person Prototypes to form impressions and to understand or interpret messages of others.   Person Prototypes are the idealized representations of a certain kind of person.  W, as humans draw these assumptions based on past experience and transference of others real or made up (as in fibs and television or movies) understanding of a certain type of person.  Even though this may help us to identify people this way but it may also lead to stereotyping; which can be unfair in judgment and causing discrimination.  So if this is a natural human instinct in order to attempt to comprehend and understand others and it can lead to the negative outcome of discrimination, how do we make these judgments fairer?  Well there is a process that can help but it takes a conscious effort.  This process is known as mindful processing.  Mindful processing requires a person to be in a place where they are in a hyper-vigilant state of awareness.  They are constantly aware of both the past and the present and are able to separate experiences and perceptions, taking each person and situation on as unique so that they do not automatically process on formation without thinking it to through and separating it. Personally this does not sound completely realistic.  I believe human behavior is mostly intuitive and many times they/we don’t even realize what we are doing or not doing.  If we were to implement mindful processing, it would be just that, a process, and a slow one. So, should we judge/categorize others?  No, but do we and will we?  Yes and it will always come with both positives and negatives.


The Fur-Kid