Why do we judge people by their cover?

It's part of human nature
The division of people, things, and phenomena into categories is a natural and automatic process that we begin to master in childhood. That's what it's called: categorization. This property of human thinking helps us to navigate in a complex, confusing and unpredictable world, makes it a little more understandable, saves time and effort.

If you see a speckled mushroom, it means it's poisonous, so don't eat it. The label implies that we do not need to think for a long time, build complex logical chains, doubt, look for solutions, try to get to know a person and evaluate him objectively.

This is a cognitive error
For example, the distortion in favor of our group, because of which we divide people into our own and others, and our own seem to us smarter, more beautiful and generally better. There may also be an illusion of uniformity of our group — when we believe that everyone who is on the same wave with us is arranged approximately the same.

This is the influence of the majority
Scientists conducted a study and found out a curious thing. If we think that others do not treat a person very well, we also begin to think negatively about him and unconsciously avoid him. And it's not just about rumors or unspoken openly negative opinions. Sometimes it is enough just to look askance, droop the corners of the lips and other elements of facial expressions that signal disapproval — and that's it: we already think that something is wrong with a person, we put the brand of the enemy on him and treat him worse.

This is the result of education
If it is customary in the family to clearly divide people into groups, assign them stereotypical qualities and build relationships with them based on a certain label, then the child is likely to learn this habit. And in adult life, he will act the same way and consider it something natural.

How to stop judging superficially
Learning to be thoughtful, calm, and open-minded about people-not jumping to conclusions, trying to get to know the other person better, and evaluating them more comprehensively-can be difficult and unusual. But it will definitely open the way to interesting acquaintances and important discoveries.