Resist the Urge to Categorize
Jeff Nischwitz (he/his/him)
Consigliere, Performance Coach, People Whisperer, Snow Globe Shaker ... Lover of bold red wine ?? .. Cuban cigars .. Hearty bourbon ?? .. Broadway theater ??
Our brains are naturally wired to categorize, whether it’s information, memories or people. While this is designed to help us manage the overwhelming amount of information we’re exposed to, this natural wiring is also the source of our judgments.
For example, if you see someone dressed a certain way, your brain wants to naturally categorize them based upon your prior experiences. This natural wiring takes over when you encounter people who look the same or different (e.g. color of skin or hair color), belong to certain organizations (e.g. churches), engage in certain past times (e.g. sports, video games, collecting stamps), or vote for the same political party.
Our brains put information into categories to make things easier for us to understand, but this categorization can cause us to stop seeing people as individuals and make unfair judgments about them. Putting people and things into categories might be our default, but it’s not fair or helpful. Resist the urge to categorize!