Distorted Thinking That We All Do When We're Not At Our Best - "Stereotyping"

This kind of faulty thinking results when you take one or two qualities or examples and make them into a negative global judgment. The judgment continues for all time and experience even though you may be making the call from a single event. Sometimes these judgments are passed down to us through our families or peer groups and we accept them blindly.

Examples:

You may have once purchased something from a store that was not quite up to the standard you desired, even though you've been very pleased with them before. Global judgment: that supermarket always sells me rotten food at inflated prices.

You asked for a ride home and your friend could not fulfill your request. Global judgment: She is a total jerk and always just out for herself.

You watch cable news broadcasts or read internet chain mails and surmise: All Republicans are a bunch of money-hungry corporation toadies who don't care about real people. They only care about their bottom line and what's in it for them or (depending on the bias of the station and the email author)

All Democrats are welfare queens and bleeding hearts who don't have a clue about how to run a business or a country. They can't manage anything on their own and always expect the government to do everything for them.

The stereotypes and the labels you assign ignore all contrary evidence and they make your view of the world very narrow and one-dimensional. Think of how many times your say "all ______s are ______."

You may be saying things like "all women are dumb," "all men are uncaring," "all Hispanics are illegal aliens," "all whites are prejudiced," "all babies are screamers," "all bosses are tyrants." The next time you find yourself making a global judgment about anything, just add these words to the end of your sentence:

"and SOMETIMES THEY ARE NOT!"

What area of your life or what current or past situation may be causing you angst due to stereotyping others with global judgments? What is another way to look at it?

Next Week: Distorted Thinking - Blaming