Assumptions

 October 8, 2020

You know what they say when you assume things.. I actually feel like it is really hard for us to NOT judge or assume things because I believe it is somewhat human nature. I think it is connected to our survival instinct. At the heart of it I think we are weary of new people/outsiders or people who are different from us because they could be a potential threat. We have to take the information we have about them to make a judgement call about them. You know what they say about first impressions.. I always try to withhold judgement about someone until I get to know them, as I hope they would do the same for me. But we have to stop and recognize them as assumptions and not fact, at least until you get to know them better. 

Many of our assumptions stem from our unconscious bias that everyone is ingrained with. Biases that, left unchecked, with change your thinking in regards to certain people or things. We all have biases and there are many different kinds. Confirmation bias is a huge one that is very relevant. 

I like to know what to expect from people so that I am not met with surprises. If we do not know the person well enough we might make an assumption about them and end up ruining our relationship with them. 

I always followed the golden rule- treat others how you want to be treated. But that assumes people want to be treated like you. We sometimes falsely assume others like the things we like and are the way the are.