In the 1st century BC, the Roman philosopher, politician and playwright LA Seneca recalled that “often in judging a thing we allow ourselves to be carried away more by opinion than by the true substance of the thing itself”.
Judgment can distort reality
Despite the passing of the centuries, it is necessary to recognize the incredible relevance of this perspective . We all, willingly or unwillingly, allow ourselves to be influenced, positively or negatively, by the judgments of others. Whether it concerns material objects, music, films, books, places, or even people, the opinions of others have a bearing on how we see things. Naturally, very often, the judgment we have about something does not establish its essence and does not correspond to the substance of the thing itself. Indeed, it can distort reality and impede in-depth cognitive analysis, locking us into a superficial vision. In fact, many people have, and sometimes spread, an opinion about something they don't know simply because "everyone thinks that way." But the fact that everyone thinks a certain way does not make that same way right and true.
Tending towards value-freedom?
Having a judgment on objects or subjects is not equivalent to having knowledge of them. It's not enough to see or look. To truly know something, you need to observe. Objective observation is the basis of knowledge, but to observe impartially, consciously, and concretely, it's essential to avoid any form of judgment about what we will evaluate. In sociology, this is called value-freedom. From M. Weber's perspective, value-freedom consists in freeing our evaluation from any value judgment, since the researcher must never be influenced by subjective judgments when conducting any type of research or evaluation.
Overcoming this barrier to knowledge and understanding.
Abandoning judgment and knowing something in its entirety before being able to form and express an opinion about it seems simple with objects but not with people. The practice of judging others is, in fact, dangerously widespread within our society. Whether it's an acquaintance, a friend, a television personality, a politician, or a family member, it seems everyone these days arrogates to themselves the right to judge anyone— in their physical appearance, behavior, attitudes, or life paths. This even happens with complete strangers. In this case, we're talking about prejudice (preconceived judgment) . Prejudice tends to consist of judging something or someone negatively (and more rarely positively) without knowing it.
The main reasons that drive people to constantly judge others are well known in sociology. They can be identified as jealousy, frustration , antipathy, malice, a superiority complex , the inability to show oneself to oneself and therefore having to use others to feel alive. What is most disconcerting is not so much the judgment itself as the fact that many believe that, among various opinions, their own about others is the correct one. That what they think or what they think determines someone's essence. We perhaps forget that sometimes the mind focuses on and detects only certain aspects of a phenomenon or a person , or that judgments are often guided by patterns or dispositions that we call cognitive biases. These, as we will see, do not make judgments objective.
Cognitive biases to rationalize a judgment
A cognitive bias is a pattern that prevents rational judgment . People perceive and analyze certain information in an illogical and inconsistent manner, and based on it, they create their own subjective evidence that doesn't correspond to reality. In relation to the topic in question, the following are among the most significant biases:
- anchoring bias, which determines the propensity to make decisions based on the first information available.
- Il confirmation bias, through which subjects tend to emphasize information that confirms the own beliefs and to belittle those that contradict them, to give greater credibility to one's arguments before oneself and others.
The egocentrism bias , which represents a memory bias , according to which people tend to remember past events in a distorted way that nevertheless safeguards their self-esteem. From what has been exposed, it is sufficiently clear that judgment is very often partial and non-objective . For this last reason, it is always necessary to distinguish the reality of something from the infinite nuances with which it can be seen and therefore judged, if one places oneself in different perspectives.
The judgement between social media and reality
While the motivations that sometimes drive people to harshly judge others are, as previously mentioned, more or less well-known, what appears less clear is the reason why individuals react to the judgment of others. Every day, we see people feeling bad about an offense, a personal criticism, or a rude comment. The judgment of others has a profoundly negative impact on people's lives, and the effects can be drastic, such as the cases of depression that sometimes result.
The social media world is making things worse. Everyone is trying to appear , not be. They're trying to project an image of themselves that doesn't correspond to reality. They're trying to appear to be what the masses like at a given moment in time, retouching photos and using quotes to demonstrate their depth. Online image seems to have become more important than one's own identity , and this has led to three dangerous and harmful consequences:
- It is through that image that people try to acquire a social recognition.
- The dissonance that is created, related to the inconsistency between what one is and what one shows, can cause an unconscious identity imbalance and psychological.
- To deeply hurt others, people attack that same image online through judgments, insults, and criticism of photos, posts, and videos. These insults negatively impact the recipients' psychosocial well-being. But why does this happen? Why does judgment become the determining cause of dangerous and significant effects such as anger, feelings of inadequacy, and sadness?
Reacting to other people's judgments
What causes a person to feel unwell or angry at the judgments expressed about them? Having a structured and conscious self should generally prevent judgment from invading one's being and destabilizing one's identity. However, as M. Scardovelli reminds us, in most cases judgment affects the self-image you hold dear and that you present to others. It is not the judgment itself that shakes a person, but rather the fear that their image may be "tarnished" in the eyes of others. Once again, the importance that others have in determining the well-being of individuals is clearly evident. Once again, social well-being, a crucial component of a person's health and too often underestimated, imposes its existence and its essentiality on us.
Another interesting perspective that we intend to briefly analyze comes from M. Nussbaum , according to whom, in the face of an offense, anger is necessary to safeguard one's dignity and self-respect. The victim tends to view the offense as a violation of their relative status, and therefore perceives the judgment as a downgrading of the self, as a loss of status. However, as Aristotle also reminds us, the reduction in status is voluntary , since the loss of status would not even be perceived if one learned to distinguish relative status (linked to the judgment of others) from a person's own dignity. In other words, we could say that judgment affects the image, not the person.
How to judge yourself?
As we've observed, people generally tend to be harsh judges when they pass judgment on others. But what happens when the object of evaluation or judgment falls on ourselves? The measuring stick changes. We tend to judge others and justify ourselves. This happens for multiple reasons. To protect ourselves or our self-esteem. Because internally, we see things from a single perspective, the one that subjectively seems correct.
For the desire to feel better. And so, what seems crucial to eradicating the problems related to judgment that we have briefly attempted to illustrate is helping to spread a new culture of judgment. This consists of learning to judge critically and constructively . First ourselves, then others. Becoming conscious and aware of our own being and only then seeking to understand that of others. This is where knowledge comes from. Not from passing judgment. After all, as A. De Mello reminds us, "what we judge cannot be understood."
Noemi del Turco
Some useful texts for further study
Bibliography:
- Aronson E., Akert R., Wilson T., Social Psychology, The Mill, Bologna 2013
- Nussbaum Martha C., Anger and forgiveness, generosity as justice, The Mill, Bologna 2017
