Posted by Llurpsie_Noodle on January 17, 2007, at 13:18:51
In reply to Re: let me add - Ll » Llurpsie_Noodle, posted by one woman cine on January 17, 2007, at 7:31:06
> I totally understand your point, literature and fiction can enrich our lives and make us think.... but when generalizations are made about a group of people or a single person; it becomes very problematic....
And I didn't say this. I'm not sure why you are addressing this post to me. I am trying to support Deneb. That's why I posted.
But since you wrote to ME, I will respond.
>
> Generalizations lead to stereotyping.
>generalizations *MAY* lead to stereotyping. Please keep in mind that the human mind has a number of very prominant biases that allow us to make rapid judgements about things we encounter. We tend to group things and events into categories. Chairs are good for sitting. This is a generalization, and it is very adaptational for us to recognize diverse specimens of chairs as all sharing the function of being good to sit in, but perhaps not so good for juggling. Is this a stereotype: that chairs are not good for juggling?
> Bipolar people are like this....& drug addicts are like this -
>
> or borderlines are like this - so read "Girl interrupted" - or "managing countertransference with borderlines".
I didn't write anything of the kind. Please don't make it seem like I did.
> I personally couldn't read the Bell Jar and say, oh well so-and-so is depressed so this is what she must be like. I can say, gee, this sounds like me and resonates with me, but I can't sit inside someone's skin and say the same thing.The more I study psychology the more I find that the interesting "stuff" is found when people behave differently than we expect. We can learn so much from studying differences. We learn not only about the factors related to an individual behaving other-than-expected, but we also learn about the fallacies and limitations of our own expectations.
Psychology is different than literature though. In my experience, a compelling story can often give me the sensation of experiencing life through another lens. For instance, reading a book can allow us to explore feelings and motivations that we don't have access to in our everyday lives. We can live in someone else's shoes, depending on how much we trust the author, and depending on how open we are to that experience.
> IMO it is dangerous to make assumptions about anyone - if you can read a book and understand yourself better, fine.I admit, I have assumptions about people. I assume, for example, that people on psycho-babble are supportive in their intent. I assume that Deneb is having a hard time understanding her mother's behavior, and I assume that one of the reasons for this could be because Deneb grew up in a different world than Deneb's mother. I formed these assumptions because I have read the things that Deneb has written in the months that I've been active on psycho-babble. I also assume that most people have 2 legs, and that we have mass. I'm not sure that assumptions, per se, are dangerous. Perhaps what is "dangerous" is when we observe a violation to our assumptions and are unable/unwilling to adjust our assumptions and expectations.
I do not subscribe to very many deterministic explanations of human behavior. An example might be: Deneb's mother is an immigrant THEREFORE she will behave ____. It's not really facilitative to understanding others if we subscribe to the view that human behavior behaves in a law-like linear fashion. The interesting thing is to note how if we put Deneb's mother and another person into the same exact circumstance they will probably behave differently. They will probably experience different things, and report different reasons for their behavior.
>
> It explicitly states in the FAQ about sensitivity and generalizing about people.
>
> Making assumptions about others based upon tv/movies etc. leads to stereotyping, which is why I provided the link before to illustrate this.
>
> I would not like to be categorized or have a generalization made about me by someone who read a book or saw a movie; thinking that was similiar to me - so that must be how I'm like....Fair enough. I would not like to be the victim of a negative prejudice formed from exposure to a single book or movie either.
I hope that you can get to know me better to know where I was coming from in my post. I do not feel it's fair for you to respond to my post by using quotes from other's posts (that I didn't refer to, BTW) and I did feel somewhat accused by this response to my post.
I genuinely did wish to support Deneb. I apologize to you Deneb, for clouding up your thread with my unrelated response to another poster.
best,
-Ll
poster:Llurpsie_Noodle
thread:721248
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20070112/msgs/723229.html