Perceptions

I think because we are consistently judging things in our environment, if even at a subconscious level, that is natural that we would judge and categorize other people as well. I don’t think this is necessarily the same as stereotyping however. It’s more to the point that as a social being we are constantly accessing situations that arise and surround us in our everyday life. For instance, you wouldn’t normally address a child in the same tone or manner as you would an adult. It is an immediate judgment on our part that the child is not as knowledgeable and would not be able to comprehend on the same level. For the most part that assessment of the situation would most likely be correct but not necessarily 100% of the time. There is the off chance that the twelve year old you are addressing is savant and unknowingly you automatically categorized him and accessed the situation as if he was like the majority of twelve year olds you’ve spoken to and addressed him as such. At any rate it was still a judgment and as such the most important thing is to remember that they are not always right. What makes the judgment unfair is when you stick to your initial perception of a person and are not open to the idea that you could have been mistaken. If after addressing the twelve year old initially and receiving a response that is non-conforming to my initial judgment to continue to categorize him incorrectly would be unfair. However, by continuously re-evaluating a situation it allows for my judgments to be ever changing, adapting to the situation around me. This allows for my judgments to be fairer, but still not perfect.