Social judgment is defined as the perception of people, about every human being around them. It refers to the perception that is formulated as a result of some observations. Social judgment is one of the fields of social psychology and it is concerned with the judgments about society. In a simplified form, social judgment is a journey from the first impression to responses of the same person, as per judgment. There would hardly be a day that goes without the bombardment of other people’s opinion about what others are saying, wearing or doing. It would not be wrong to call present-day culture as a series of the judgment passed on from one individual to another that either gets worsened or gets better with articulations. Social judgments can be both, positive and negative, leading to a positive outcome or plays a central role in worsening the existing attitude.
Discussion
Social judgment is more like a plague that is eating the very fiber of society. It destroys the spirit of the talented by demeaning them with eye pinching realities that arise out of humor, personal preferences or lame talk that have no reality based around it. It is an ideology without an analogy and a stance without proven facts that target every single individual who is living on this planet. Social judgment, that has played a central role in making human beings socialize with other members of the society, is a two-way arrow. On one side, there lies society with a positive outcome that is the result of positive criticism or appraisal and on the other side is social judgment that is an approach to promote extremism which does nothing other than worsening the present situation. The persistence of social judgment has turned the quote of Shakespeare into reality asserting, “All world is a stage, all men mere players” (Suls, pp. 32). Social judgment is one of those dilemmas that has extracted the essence of reality from human beings and it has turned them into showpieces to be judged from every angle and aspect. The point of criticism is, this display that has no positive cause, all it turns out to be is sheer destruction. It would not be wrong to say that all aspects of socialization begin from judgment, every passer-by is judged and every official being is discussed. It seems so common and yet so futile, but actually, it can be one of the social threats faced by human beings. There are entire websites that are designed with an aim to ridicule what people wear. Humans live in a culture where people find it as their social obligation to evaluate and judge everyone around them in terms of their behaviors and choices. The ideologies that were once rumored in the neighborhood are now public knowledge cast in stone, on the internet, which stays there forever (Wallace).
The major problem with social judgment is that it is hampering the underlying existence because there are rare people who are able to brush it off unafflicted, while other terms to allow this judgment (so-called word of mouth) to ruin their mood, sunk in their hearts and impact them painfully. With the growing trend of social media in the form of communication medium that has unchained all the platforms of censorship and leadership, it is becoming harder to stay protected. This overwhelming power of judgments behooved people not to share their talents and gifts with others, just out of fear. This leads to destruction of the world where people are comparing their talents with uncertified standards and this unsafe environment is encouraging people to harm themselves and harm others or both as an ultimate reaction. Without any doubt, social judgment is something that needs to be reconsidered because the only potent ways of change is inner-self and it has the power to change oneself only. So, social judgment is just a futile way of expressing either the heartiest love or deep buried hatred, that resides nowhere and is required nowhere in the society (Suls, pp. 32).
There are a lot of important points to address while discussing social judgment because these considerations can help to mitigate the citric and saggy effect these judgments can have on the people. Firstly, it is mandatory to think that judging others is actually a worthy business or not because this thought is one of those key factors that can arise the sense of responsibility. This sense of responsibility can evoke other social responsibilities shouldered to human beings rather than judging others. Secondly, one should think if his/her opinion is worth considering or not, because the opinion of an individual can only be impactful if it has some social messages coded in it, otherwise it would be nothing other than casual talk. Considering the necessity of judgment, its benefits and compassions are also those factors which can convert social judgment into a positive message or eradicate the idea of being judgmental at all (Suls, pp. 32).
Social judgment is something that has both positive and negative influences on an individual. According to different psychologists and sociologists, social judgment is one of the current issues that has proved to impart societal demerits along with a narrowed approach to social life. There is a rare positive impact of social judgment (Wallace) (Hasty). No doubt, there are cases in which social judgment is taken as a challenge to turn it into something positive and influential, it is highlighted that there are few people who view the positive side of life. For such people, social judgment is more like a challenge that they take as a positive instinct and make efforts that can prove effective in the long run. Such people believe in the rise of ‘the phoenix from ashes’ and they belong to the class of motivators and iron-willed humans who strive to prove themselves. Much like the influence of psychology asserting, ‘glass of water being half empty’, social judgment has its roots developed strongly in the negative side. According to a survey conducted by Hasty, social judgment has turned out to be something very negative that compromised to prevalent social structure and distorted human potential. There are a lot of negative impacts that social judgment can have on an individual.
Inferiority complex is one of the effects of social judgment, taking into account, the notion of suppression. It is a common observation that no one in this world wants to be judged and ruined on the basis of some external and apparent realities. Also, the human mentality is pushed to such an extreme that there is no element of “courtesy” left in the hearts of people (Hasty). People take no time in criticizing the lifestyle or actions of others no matter how much hard work they have incorporated, in that particular action. Inferiority complex is one of the demerits of this social structure that can curb major talents and people suffer from long-time alienation because of a single row of judgment. Social judgment that seems to be a single critical sight, can hamper the underlying personality traits of an individual, leading him to the depths of failure and cowardness (Hasty).
In the world of gadgets, where social media is the ultimate power, the massive use of technology has incorporated an extremist attitude in people. There are several instances in which a single judgment is considered to be valid enough to be encouraged and give rise to a complete social media movement, without knowing any solid reason behind it. This extremist attitude is not just limited to taglines, hashtags and color shifting of social media timeline, but can bring massive movement in individuals that can lead to some extremist acts such as mass shooting and a complete ban on accepting something. Another version of this extremist attitude can be found in the form of self-war, people, when criticized, are pushed to a war with their inner-self and it can lead to a lot of social mismanagements and brutal responses. There are several instances found in the society such as Islamic society, killing women in the name of honor. In such cases social judgment is found as an abuse of power that can imprison souls and engrave empowered women who have strong ambitions to move ahead in life (Wallace).
Within the list of negative impacts caused by social judgment, there are a lot of mental impacts that can be traced such as hampered self-esteem. It is evident that no one in this world would prefer to be judged and criticized for something that had won a feeling of likelihood and something that is driven out of passion and choices. Self-esteem is one of the most delicate feelings in the world and it hurts more than any terrifying thing. It is even more pathetic to hurt self-esteem just on the basis of the culture of social judgment that can neither suppress nor empower the struggle of individuals directly. Hampering self-esteem may push an individual to the beds of sorrow and grief and it might lead to psychological disorders, where about 78% of the population in this world suffers from some sort of psychological disorders and complexities and personality mismanagement is one of them (Wallace).
One of the extensions of self-esteem can result in hiding talent because many people will never show it no matter how much talented they are. It is more than terrifying that a layman who has a lot of talent that can glorify this world, is doomed to stay hidden and keep his/her talent hidden just because of the fear of being judged. There might be people who may not be able to show up again or there could be people who would have the ability to leave a mark but the fear of being judged snatches their abilities from them without any sound analogy (Hasty). Social order always teaches us to raise others in either means because it is one of the virtues that plays a central role in the regulating world, but a single criticizing comment can let an individual deviate from his/her path forever. One never knows how much potential of an individual is curbed under the fear of being judged because being insulted is another social torment that can add to the misery of existence.
An analysis of the facts and figures quoted by different psychological departments and an exegetical insight into human behaviors highlights that about 74% of the people around the globe suffer from loneliness (Suls, pp. 32). This loneliness is the fear of unacceptance or sometimes actual unacceptance. Here, there are two major points to consider, first, the standards created by social judgment that requires every human being to be embellished artificially in order to look presentable and secondly, the criticism that is too dark to be accepted that has drenched the blood of numerous spirits by now. One of the examples of this concept can be found in the beauty standards set by society, where every individual is required to look equivalent to that set standard in order to be acceptable and those who have failed to approach that standard has to suffer from loneliness because they are not able to find solace for themselves. This bitter truth of society is again a question mark on humanity because human beings are created to support each other, but here all the potentials are brought to work to make other beings realize their worthlessness (Wallace).
Social judgment is nothing other than an illusion that contaminates the social spectrum and gives birth to social evils. It is evident that one sincere being cannot bear a negative approach of someone else towards their loved ones. So, the so called ‘Miraj’ of social judgment is paving the way for social evil, such as hatred. Here, technology is playing a central role because media which is a source of communication was introduced to mitigate the gap between people, it was meant to bring hearts of people closer to each other but now it is used to widen the gap in the form of hate speech. People are never afraid to judge others and they describe flaws in a courageous manner. The most violent effect is, several websites are designed to criticize a social spectrum, a class and a sect based on some beliefs and traditions that are judgmental for others (Axt, pp. 1232-1251).
As a result, people are becoming psychologically violent. It seems like social judgment has made this world a criminal’s place where everyone is trying to cut off the lifeline of others just for the sake of personal hatred and violence that is arisen from unmatched standards. According to the American Psychological Association, half of the population in the world suffers from violence, be it social, physical or psychological where psychological violence is the worst of all types (Axt, pp. 1232-1251). One of the root causes of psychological violence is traced in the negative impact of socialization that does not apparently harm, but leaves dark marks on the personality of people. It is evident that the majority of youth suffer from depression, anxiety, and fear. In order to soothe themselves, they opt for other ways such as drugs that can deprive them of the bitter reality of life (or lack thereof) and bless them with the freedom of survival. Such people not only get into an adverse psychological state but become psychologically violent and it is one of the critical examples of the negative impact of social judgment (Axt, pp. 1232-1251).
Conclusion
Social judgment was once known as a vision, that has now turned into a plague and a social demerit that has brought society at the verge of destruction and sadly the cause is us human beings. Although both positive and negative impacts are associated with social judgment still, the negative impact is more common than a positive one and it has ruined the very basic approach of society. Social judgment has imparted social evils such as hatred, inferiority complex along with psychological disorders such as depression, feeling of unacceptance and phycological violence along with extremism. The story of this social evil does not end here, it has not just contaminated the ideology of socialization but it has built fake castles of standards that are required by every human being to be built in order to pass the criteria of judgment unless, every second human being is left to be destroyed under the obsessions of social judgment that has not only affected the life of layman but also of esteemed officials who are the stakeholders or influencers of society. In a nutshell, social judgment is not just a perception but a destructive agent that has played a critical role in hampering society.
Work Cited
6 Questions to Ask Before Judging Someone. (2019). Spiritualityhealth.com. Retrieved 3 December 2019, from https://spiritualityhealth.com/blogs/real-love-with-eve/2018/02/22/6-questions-to-ask-before-judging-someone#
Axt, Jordan R., Grace Casola, and Brian A. Nosek. "Reducing social judgment biases may require identifying the potential source of bias." Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 45.8 (2019): 1232-1251.
Hasty, Connor, and Jon K. Maner. "Power, Status, and Social Judgment." Current opinion in psychology (2019).
Suls, Jerry, Rebecca L. Collins, and Ladd Wheeler. "How Social Comparison Affects the Self." Social Comparison, Judgment, and Behavior (2019): 32.
Wallace, Dana M., and Verlin B. Hinsz. "A social judgment analysis of information processing in groups: Capacity and consistency in information processing impacts group judgment." Group Dynamics: Theory, Research, and Practice (2019).
