Judging on Apperance

Justin Tipton What is the first thing we do when meeting a first. We judge! Judging someone based on their appearance is an inherent human instinct. Many times when people judge a person, people end up making wrong decisions. We create mental images in our minds that categories people based upon their appearance. When you see a man in a suit, tie, and a briefcase you figure is a lawyer, professor, or a businessman. In reality the guy that you see could have been out for a special event and could be no more than a car mechanic. We base our opinions on perceptions on people based upon what we can biologically see with our eyes.

In her article how the eye works Ker Than explain how we use our eyes to visually see things. “Vision begin when lights rays are reflected off an object and enter the eyes through the cornea, The transparent outer covering of the eyes. The cornea refracts the rays that pass through a round hole, called the pupil. The Irish is the colored portion of the eye that surrounds the pupil, and then become larger or smaller to regulate the amount of light passing through. The rays then travel through the lenses to the retina at the back of the eye. The retina conducts light into electrical impulses.

The optic nerve sends impulses to the brain where a visual image or perception is produced. ” We use our eye to visually see people, and to make an array of judgment about that person based on what we see. While it’s true we can come times tell certain thing about people by looking at their external appearance, it is not the best of measurements. I believe people should not judge people by their external appearance, and should at least speak with a person before making a judgment. You can’t judge a person character base on appearance and that why many of us make unfair and bias assumption of others.

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People sometimes change their appearance to fit different situations. According to a Washington post article, Joshua bell one of the world greatest violinists set out to do an experiment to test people’s perception on appearance. By most, he was nondescript: a youngish white man in jeans, a long sleeved t-shirt and Washington National baseball cap. He positioned himself against a wall beside a trash basket, from a case; he moved his violin and began to play. It was a Friday and the middle of morning rush hour. The violinist played for nearly an hour, and performed six classical pieces.

Nearly 1,100 people passed by, many of them on their way to work. No one knew it, but the fiddler standing against a bare wall outside was one of the finest classical musicians in the world, playing some of the most elegant music ever written on one of the most valuable violins ever made. In the hour that Joshua Bell played, seven people stooped what they were doing to hang around and take in the performance, at least for minute. Twenty-seven gave money, for a total of thirty-two dollars and seventeen cents. That means over 1,070 people passed on by, with few even turning to look.

Three days before conducting this experiment on a street corner in Washington, Joshua bell filled the house at Boston’s stately symphony Hall, where the average seat went for one-hundred dollars. the appearance of a guy in plain clothes playing a violin at the street corner, made many people ignore his sound before ever even taking the time to listen. Many times people judge what they see, and ignore the beauty that right in front of their face. To begin with, someone external appearance is not mirror of one’s inner self. I can relate to from examples in my own life.

Being a young African-American male, growing up near Memphis one of Americas most dangerous cities. I came from a poorer family, I been working full time since attending college. In the day time I was a college student, but at work I was a normal sweaty and dirty factory worker. When people saw me at work, they assumed I was uneducated and not very intelligent. In reality, I was a good academic student, has a good reputation among my fellow students and professors. My co-workers couldn’t see the college side of me, and many of my fellow students couldn’t see working in a factory which was known for harsh working conditions.

Since leaving the factory, I know have a security job just outside of downtown Nashville. TRICOR is the name of the corporation is profits in the million, by utilizing inmates for production and paying their cheap labor wages. This cooperation is ran by your typical CEO, a short old white man, that dresses in suits and ties and owns many expenses vehicles. For many months while working there, he passed by me every day and never once he even acknowledging my presence. One day I was reading a book about written from a famous entrepreneur, and the boom caught the eye of the CEO.

He walked up to me and asked why I reading a book like that, I told I was a college student that was a business major, and that it has beneficial information in this nook, and that I read many book from this author. He then brought to my attention that he has read the same book and he too was a fan of the author books. After conversation for a few minutes he then brought to my attention that he too grew up from a poor family, and that he also work at a factory and once at a security job while too attending college. I am a business management major and he too has a degree in business management .

Ever since that day of our conversation he speak to me daily, and we hold brief but interesting conversation often. Prior to that conversation we had never spoken to another, once we looked past the external appearance, we realized we two men who shared many things in common. You may not realize it, but perception based on appearance happen all the time. Studies show that fifty-five percent of opinion of a person is based upon physical appearance, and that it takes around fifteen second for a person to realize if he or she like your or not, or want to do business with you.

Do honestly we feel like we get accurate of someone inner self with over half of what we perceive come from appearance, and while only judging them for one-fourth of a minute? Many people believe that judging people on the appearance is beneficial and effective. Mangers often use appearance as a asset while evaluating a candidate for a job. You could have two good candidates with impressive resume, but choosing a candidate based on race, or which dressed too me is ineffective. In reality just because one candidate is dressed better, doesn’t make him any smarter or better qualified than the other.

When it comes to judging a lover or friend, external appearance shouldn’t be a factor on your judgment about that person. Much time we see that a man or women date someone because she is beautiful and he is handsome. In high school and college you see on many occasions when someone hangs around a certain person because it will increase his/her popularity. In a poem I once read it state “we see best when we look for the less”. In just a few words, that poem speaks a lot, we see the best when look past the artificial obvious, and see the beauty that deep within a person.

Beauty and the Beast just a fairy tale and a kid’s story but moral of this tale has such a deeper meaning. The story about a beautiful women falling in love with an ugly beast, passed artificial obvious and see the beauty that lied deep within him. Making a judgment on some based only external appearance is an unfair and accurate judgment of someone. It is not accurate to judge someone based on we biologically see wit our eyes. A appearance can adjust and change their appearance to fit many different situation where there true selves do not show, but a person cannot change his/her character.

For these reason, it is important to get to know someone before making a judgment. “The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or touched”. “But must be felt by the heart”. The best and most beautiful things in people cannot be seen by the eyes. Judging someone on external appearance is an inherent and instinct that happen almost instantaneously. We as people have the ability to control our judgment, we have the ability to use our minds to see more within people than what we see with our eyes.

Stero-typing is something we do without even noticing, but placing people into different categories based on external appearance limits our ability to meet new people. Sometimes the people that we expect knot to have anything in common with, could be a totally false assumption. If we allow ourselves to judge and meet people of different culture, many would be surprised to know they share many things in common with people they would have never suspected. As long as people allow ourselves to be blinded by external appearance then we will fully see the inner beauty within so many people.

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