Evaluation and Judgment
• What are the different ways in which we evaluate people? We evaluate other people by their physical appearance, career, culture, possessions, or even family history. When first meeting someone we tend to evaluate them by physical appearance we see their hair color, body type, clothing style, facial features, and body gestures. We tend to categorize people by physical appearance even before knowing what type of person they really are this is known as first impression. If a person has tattoos and piercing, many may evaluate that person as a drug user or in a gang. We may evaluate others by their career choice, people will tend to feel lawyers are all greedy liars and doctors are all very intelligent. People who move into a new neighborhood may evaluate their neighbors by the size of their home or the kind of car they drive. People also tend to evaluate people based on where they live or how they grew up. If hearing a certain family name, and that family has a reputation for alcoholism, people will evaluate that all family members drink heavily. Many aspects in life can affect the way people evaluate others.
• How do these factors play a role in our expectations of other people? People tend to expect certain behaviors from others based on first impressions or evaluations. We use these expectations to communicate with others. If we see a person as attractive, intelligent, rich we may expect their behaviors and intentions as good and want to form a relationship with that person. If we see people as less attractive, unintelligent, or poor we tend to expect bad interactions with them and shy away from them. These expectations can be false and can cause people to befriend the wrong types of people. Unfortunately, once an initial evaluation has been made and people do not live up to the expectations, it is hard to change a first impression or evaluation.
• What are the disadvantages of the expectations? The disadvantages of expectations are getting into unhealthy relationships with the wrong people and letting the right people walk out of your life. Expectations usually do not end well, expecting someone to be nice to you just because they live in a better neighborhood, have a reputable career, or are dressed nice can be a big letdown. If people always judge the book by its cover they may be passing up good opportunities, great friendships, new learning experiences, and so many other things that can bring joy to their life. People are always going to evaluate others on first impressions or what they hear about a person; not letting those initial thoughts base people’s relationship with others is what needs to be changed. Everyone should get to know a person before assuming the best or worst and this will lead to unrealizable expectations.