Extra Credit Project

Abigael Handoko Putra

19714061/1A

Why do people judge others?

1. Question Background
What make you come up with this question?
I come up with this question after observing people in my daily life and paying attention

to the word pattern they say. Youre smart!, That is a foolish thing to do!, She is

excellent in Financial Accounting!, The Fat-so is here again!, and other similar

remarks. When I pay attention to them, I notice that all have qualitative wordssmart,

foolish, excellent, and fatwhich are meant to describe the measurements of the targets

quality in certain aspects. The speaker, in this case, forms an opinion or conclusion about

the target and makes it clear. Then I contemplate it for a while to finally see that the

speakers are judging their targets. Well, Im sure they all have their reasons to judge, but

what are their reasons? Do all their reasons have something in common? Why do they

judge? This is what makes me come up with the question.

Why do you think its important for people to know?
People need to know this in order to understand whether its really right or wrong to

judge others and be really sure of their decision to do just that. From my experience,

sometimes people judge others without even thinking of the reasons and the impacts of

their actionsthey just judge. This has made me wondered whether they judge just to

satisfy some parts of themselves or just to say something like it was nothing. Even though

other people do judge with a reason, they all should understand that not all people can

tolerate judgements, especially when they are in a (really) bad mood at the time.
2. Answer
i. What is judging? (in the context of my question)
Judging is a process of describing someones actions, personality, characters, or

physical traits in ones own perspective and then act on it. Character refers to what
 Extra Credit Project
Abigael Handoko Putra
19714061/1A

they are: their values, beliefs, etc. On the other hand, personality refers to what they

seem to be: their attitudes, behaviors, etc.

ii. Why do people judge others?
a. Mainly, because its their nature to judge
Humans are social animals living the most complex life on earth. This identity

came about due to our brains inclination and capability to process many

information in a brief moment to generate something to be expressed to

others. In order to find something to say, we would first form an opinion,

which is a judgement, about something or someone based on a set of rules or

information that we have previously encountered. Because we are used to this

jugement making process as social creatures, it happens almost all the time

whether we realize it or not. This has caused our mind to subconsciously

develop the urge to judge others. Over time, this urge has been so many times

passed down to generations through our DNA that now we dont even notice

if we have just made a judgement. In the end, this tendency has been a part of

human nature. Putting it all together, its humans nature to judge others.
b. Because they want to reassure themselves
Many people fear uncertainty. This is because it causes lack of confidence that

can impair the decisions and actions they take. To fight this, one will need to

reassure him/herself with facts or opinionsjudgementsthat will ease this

fear or even blow it away. Take the case of a karate fighter waiting in a room

for his turn to fight in the competition he just signed up for, knowing nothing

about his opponents. Most people in his position would wonder if they would

be able to win. Some people in his position may even get stressful thinking
 Extra Credit Project
Abigael Handoko Putra
19714061/1A

about this. In order to prevent this, s/he will have to tell him/herself, making

judgement, that s/he will be able to win. This way, s/he will be able to reassure

him/herself that s/he will be able to win.

c. Because they just want to start a communication
As social creatures, we need others. However, to connect with others, we will

need to communicate with them. The most used way to communicate with

others is through expressing our opinionjudgementabout something or

someone by saying it in a language we both understand. For example, when it

was my first time in SBM ITB and knew almost nobody, I often try to

overhear what other students said. One day, I was nearby a fellow SBM

student who talked about how he was fond of trading card games. Knowing

that I also liked a popular card game named Cardfight! Vanguard, I said to

him, Wow, you must like Cardfight! Vanguard!. To my surprise, he replied,

Yes, of course. So, youre a player too, huh? Nice to meet you!. We ended

up talking quite a while about the game and finally became friends.
3. References
a) why do people judge others? Yahoo Answer.
https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20130413052801AAdmupR.

Retrieved June 30, 2015 at 18:30

b) Why do people judge others? Yahoo Answer
https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20101217014640AAeinRf
Retrieved June 30, 2015 at 19:03
c) Why do people judge other people? Yahoo Answer
https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20081013224917AAmSa1C
Retrieved June 30, 2015 at 19:17