In the study of sociology and psychology, people have studied the behaviors of people. The amazing fact is that, for all of the data, studies and surveys the experts have done over the years, have done nothing to come up with solutions for people’s inaccurate ways of thinking. Looking at how people behave socially today is not much different than our ancestors conducted themselves socially during their lives.

There are three topics or ways of thinking in this writing that grabbed my attention the most, my guess is that I have experienced them at past times in my life, today even in the present and as I hope to improve myself as a person, I will probably experience the same three in the future so I can only plan on how I can pass in the positives in everyday social interaction. This way, we can treat people who may look different or speak differently than us the same as we would treat our own brother. That we will be honest in our behaviors with people and not adopt lying as a lifestyle, and finally to be followers to just leadership but to also take the step to be leaders ourselves.

We just want people around us to be alike, and assume they’re bad if they aren't:

Image Source: ScottWoodsMakesLists

I truly believe this has gone on since people were scattered into different groups and at the day humans were divided by language. Over many centuries, physical features like skin color, eye color, and hair type brought more uniqueness in the human family but also more division. Over time, those groups with those unique features formed cultures which contained, their own language, style of clothing, education, religion, foods, and traditions.

Yet beneath all of those differences, we were still one big family descended from the first man and woman. Sadly, there were those who see people who may look different, speak different, dress different as being inferior. Those were the ones the supposed superior group would who look down on with fear and hate of the other groups of people because they were different.

The best example of this was the slave trade. I can say that The United States was the country and its culture for the most part from the 17th through the middle part of the 19th century accepted the enslavement of black Africans because, in the eyes of the masters, they were not human with their dark skin and that they were nothing more than property. Yet the concept of one group of people enslaving another went on long before that time in history. Again, some groups of people believe other people were bad because they are different from them?!

Study Source: ChangingMinds

We lie to ourselves to make our decisions feel better:

Image Source: DiscoverMagazine

I found an interesting article on a website called Livescience called “Why We Lie” by Robin Lloyd in that article she states “we all Lie, all the time.” After I read just that part, I was like really? I’m probably not older than that lady and as expected, she’s got me figured out from the first lie I told about using my allowance to buy candy, to the present? Ok, you got me! Yes, I was a liar, and I am putting emphasis on “was” because, though I admit to my past discretions, I am trying to improve on being truthful. Yay! I'm saved now ;)

The reason is that, it may be all cool like I got away with something, but things like that have a tendency to come back and bite you in the area of your body you use to sit. The reason we lie? Speaking for myself, I was trying to avoid a whipping for lying to my mom when she asked if I spent all of my allowance on candy so in essence, I was trying to save my own butt.

There are many reasons why we lie to ourselves to make our decisions better. For example, a job applicant who lies on a job resume to make himself look better as a candidate for a position, or the student who lies about cheating on a test my make himself look scholarly and the degree. So, I would agree with Ms. Lloyd’s statement that “we all lie, all the time. I would also ask the reader of this article to confess and work on the practice of being truthful, and if you say you’ve never lied about anything, I say please read this section of the article again.

Study Source: LiveScience

Everyone being ignorant maintains our ignorance:

Image Source: DailyMail

This comes from a condition called Pluralistic Ignorance. Trust me the official definition will be found on a link I will provide. The reason I’m not quoting this is that, it is way too long to enter for this article. Now, the informal definition which I have, comes from a game called follow the leader, meaning that groups of people tend to follow what one or a few people would consider to be the normal behavior.

Some individuals may not agree to all of the ideas of the norm, but they go along with it. It’s so true, in band practice, an entire section of the band might play a song of key because they are afraid of making a mistake. What they may in turn do is wait for the best player to start then they will join in. It is unfortunately common, but we harm ourselves in this behavior.

Thus as individuals, we do maintain our ignorance by not stepping out and taking chances in order to grow and advance intellectually. The best example in the article was in regards to the instructor asking the class if they have questions or if they understood the material and, no one said anything. Needless to say, it backs up the subtopic statement “Everyone being ignorant maintains our ignorance.

Study Source: ChangingMinds

Conclusion:

Those three inaccurate ways people think socially are just incredible and have detrimental effects on people today just as they have done throughout history. Instead of improving ourselves and leaving a better world for our children, we still have hostile feelings towards people different from themselves and use that to justify mistreating other people because they want everyone to look and be like them. The second topic of how we lie so we feel good about ourselves I would agree is an interesting on because it has gone on so long that lying has become a lifestyle for most people. And the final topic, of “Everyone Being Ignorant maintains our ignorance is requires deep thought for the reader because unless we as individuals learn to take chances in life and be the brave one to answer the question first, we may be following the one we think is the smartest one when in fact he or she is not.

And oh by the way, I hope you liked and enjoyed reading my article. Please do not forget to follow me at @princewahaj for more interesting and original content.