2006-06-13 09:41:07 · 10 answers · asked by Sandra F 1 in Politics & Government ➔ Law & Ethics
It has to do with out physical and social development as human beings.
We categorize as a means of being able to understand. It is a base learning practice we develop from infancy.
The hard part is in deciding what those categories are and what we do about them. That is where most of our issues arise from.
2006-06-13 09:45:00 · answer #1 · answered by gremlinbass 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It's part of the process of assimilating data and creating links -- what we call "understanding" and "comprehension".
Basically, for knowledge to be useful, we need to be able to organize it and associate it with other data. Most people are trained as children to organize things into categories. Their mind forms this model of behavior, and everything after that just reinforces the model. Society then becomes structured around this model.
I know several people who don't think this way. Me for example. My brain does not categorize based on extrinsic traits. I have to treat everyone as individuals. This makes things difficult for me, and others I know whose brains work the same way, because it is not the way society is structured to function.
For people to stop categorizing this way, they would need to be trained in a different way to think. Like learning a different language. It works better by immersion, and requires constant practice to be fluent. But your first language encodes itself in your neural makeup, so even if you don't use it for a long time, you can always recover it. Other cognitive paradigms, including categorization vs. individualization, work the same way.
2006-06-13 14:41:02 · answer #2 · answered by coragryph 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Because that's how the world is. it's like that in every country and everyone will never see each other as people. We'll always see people as Americans, Asians, Europeans, and so on.
2006-06-13 09:48:59 · answer #3 · answered by Ryan 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Labeling people is just something that is a human instinct. they want to be able to just put everyone into a category so they can go 'Who?' 'That prep who's in trig with you.' instead of recognising who they really are. Although it's not exactly nice, it is a human instinct, and we are all (supposedly) humans.
2006-06-13 09:48:30 · answer #4 · answered by blood.red.demon 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I guess it's because no one can agree on a starting point of where we all began. And it is easier to keep track of the good guys and bad buys. I'm not saying categorizing is right, but it is a natural behavior that we all have.
2006-06-13 10:04:44 · answer #5 · answered by The_Real_Vision_From_Avengers 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because we are different. Thats what makes this world so cool. If we were all the same it would not be very interesting.
2006-06-13 09:48:45 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
We put ourselves in categories. White or black, rich or poor,
Democrat or Republican, homeowner or renter - I keep going.
No one assigned me - I did.
2006-06-13 09:47:01 · answer #7 · answered by Wolfpacker 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
i have wondered that for a long time i hate how white people put down blacks mexicans and many other races
2006-06-13 09:45:00 · answer #8 · answered by horror_and_gore 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
This is America honey. Get used to it.
2006-06-13 09:46:11 · answer #9 · answered by farsidecc 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
good question
but this question is for the Islam world to??
2006-06-13 09:44:41 · answer #10 · answered by qwq 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋