Our Need for Acceptance and the Effects of Judgment

Our Need for Acceptance and the Effects of Judgment

Our Need for Acceptance and the Effects of Judgment

All too often people are overly concerned with fitting into the molds of society and with impressing people, even those who they may not even care about. The overwhelming desire to be liked and popular amongst your peers often drives others to act differently and not be themselves. While you cannot change how others act, you personally can take steps to make the world a truly better place. How do you do that? By accepting everyone and everything for how they are, right now, you can help create a more genuine and less superficial world.

Consider this; if everyone were to accept everyone else for who they were, there would be no need to hide secrets from others, or for some to suffer the embarrassment due to one’s perceived unsightly nose or the judged obnoxious laugh. All too often judgmental and prejudice behavior inhibits people from being themselves and causes a need for fakeness and artificiality. Because people judge and do not accept others that things such as cliques and other social stereotypes get developed. People feel a need to associate with only those people who share their same interests only because they feel as though they fit in and feel accepted. And that would make perfect sense as those who are like us, it’s easier to develop rapport with them and makes us feel safe.

Another interesting fact about judgment…did you know that there is a part of our brain in the limbic system that can’t tell the difference between giving and receiving? When you give a compliment to someone or a gift, how does it usually feel to give it? Great, right!? The reason is, there is that part of your brain that perceived it as if you just gave it to yourself. The same goes for judgments. If you think something or verbally say something out loud that is negative or judgmental about someone else, notice the face you make and how it feels for you. Again, that part of your brain just experienced it as if you just said it about yourself.

On a deeper personal level, being accepting of people can show you something that you may not have known about yourself (or maybe just something that you were not comfortable sharing before). By opening yourself up to those who, on the surface, may not seem like “your type”, you could possibly discover other interests that you have and you could possibly develop friendships you wouldn’t otherwise. Having more social circles, besides the one with people who are just like you, increases the quality of your social life far beyond the idea that “one can never have too many friends.”

So the next time you’re feeling like passing judgment on someone who is different from yourself, remember all of the benefits that being accepting can bring to not only you, but the world as well.