declutteringmylifeweb

Am I a personality or a socialised person?

I wonder what convictions I would have if I had been born on another point of the world. While reviewing events and approving the righteous ones or condemning the abuses, I often question my firmness.

Other people, who are supposed to act racionally, hold solid persuasions defying my beliefs.

 

soci

 

Are my values actually the craftwork of my socialization? Is my personality the shere reflection of internalized norms and ideologies of the community I belong to? 

The accumulated wisdom of humans ensure the continuity of our civilisation. However, once reaching the maturity of our capabilities, we should act consiously and decide whether common wisdom is applicable in particular situations.

Our capabilities, such as perception, intelligence and moral values, can be applied only by making decisions. Nobody intends to be the society’s slave, a flexible fabric out of which it creates brainless dummies. But are the principles along which one is ready to sacrify themselves really their own? 

It is evident that the wealthy and the mightly of given eras are aware of what are in their best interests and influence the moral codes accordingly. But do their supporters follow them unconditionally as devoted defenceless serves ? 

Our personalities are formed by both socialization and inherent characteristics. However, I am not convinced of freedom of opinion as the society’s pressure to oppress unorthodox traits are such that only few dare act individually.

How is it possible that individuals processing the same information can draw totally different conclusions and even die for them? How could these huge cultural discrepancies evolve within one species sharing the same sense organs and environment?

How should I trust my persuasions when other argumentations lead to dissimilar yet deductable findings? I am afraid no judgment can be declared the right one, as they are only variables in the function of time and power.

 

 

 

46 comments

  1. This is very true. Well at least for me it is true. My beliefs indeed are a reflection of the community I have been in, and now I am so opinionated that no amount of convincing can turn me to the other side. When we’re children (or at least young adults), we are more impressionable, the views and opinions we form at that stage almost always stay with us till the end. That being said, it is so hard to remain unbiased.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • I am afraid you are right. Our religion, moral codes, eating habits, preconceptions about other cultures or peoples are all based on our socialisation. Consequently, I could be a “moral enemy” of my present self if I had been born in another country.

      Liked by 4 people

      Reply

  4. If I was born in the place where can not free to speek, I would not be alive already.
    In previous life,I may have died in a country that can not free to speak.
    I want to do what I can do to my present self. 😀

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • It is so strange that there must be a lot of people telling that they could not live according to my culture. It would be very interesting to test somehow if they could have accepted it if they had been born here. Actually in most cases they could, I suppose but I am not an expert. But bravery and heroism could be so strong in their character that they could have dared to contradict.

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply

  5. I think a lot of who we are and our beliefs come FIRST from our families… than society. But I also feel that depending on how our family raised us (whether to be independent thinkers or followers) determines if we have an opinion of our own or if we just follow the crowd. Also, if we live in one place our entire life without ever moving for traveling that impacts our thinking as well. I noticed that some people are flexible in their thinking and wanting to “understand” others, while there are people who are so rigid in how they think that there is no way to even have a discussion with them. Life is challenging.

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

    • I agree about the role of the family. However, I think that families are the integral parts of the society where we were born. They have to adjust themselves to the prevailant moral codes. If they belong to a minority, they incorporate those values. Actually belonging to a group is equal to observing their own culture, I suppose. Consequently, families are their reflections as well.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      • Agree and disagree. My mother was an immigrant, so kept us sheltered from society, because she did not agree with their “thinking” and wanted us to have the values she wanted to instill in us. For example, I grew up in Indiana, small town thinking. My mother was from Florence, Italy, so European thinking. She wanted us to know about the world, different cultures, diversity, traditions, etc. With religion, while she is Catholic, she always embraced other religions and would read from the Buddha book a lot, as well as other religious books trying to show us that while the religions name was different in general the core beliefs were the same. So, I feel “strongly” that our family is where it all starts, then at school with what teachers say and what “other students” say based on THEIR family’s beliefs, we see other opinions. And yes, families are an integral part of society, but not necessarily where we were born, b/c as you see with my mother… outsiders coming to a new community can either add positive or negative thoughts to society, because beliefs can be so different.

        Liked by 1 person

      • In this context I still consider family as a culture transmitter, and as one of the socialization tools. As generally they have to cope with employers, legal and political systems, they can not isolate themselves from the surroundings. (There are always exceptions, of course.)

        However, it is unexplainable how billions could end up believing in reincarnation and others in the paradise (or saint animals etc so many exemples there are) and others in evolution unless external guidance/push is taken into consideration.

        Or how do you explain these cultural differences in general which are structured mainly along political, legal or ethnical borders?

        Like

      • Then we can say, “Why did God have to create so many different races? Why didn’t he create one race that believed the same way all over the world.” Isn’t this why they have movies on making everyone into “clones?” I think you need one of those travel time machines, so you can go back in history and answer your questions.

        Liked by 1 person

  6. Jonathan Haidt (The Righteous Mind) addressed the issue of morals. Although I don’t agree with all of his conclusions, I have to accept his data. He provided evidence that our (rather self-conflicting) moral foundations are innate. That is, they come before socialization, but socialization can twist them around and the result is people disagree with each other. Being “rational” won’t resolve the disagreements. We are motivated reasoners, that is, rationalizers, and that’s a good thing. This doesn’t mean we aren’t making free choices nor able to reach moral conclusions. It does suggest that what constrains us is not what we tend to think it is.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  9. Good thoughtful post.

    The human deep seated need to belong means that we socialise with and want to please our social groupings/culture and thinking unlike them generally displeases them – so mostly we don’t! 😉

    Regarding how we can be so different sometimes with similar rules and norms that we start from?

    Are you familiar with Fractals? Geometric patterns from simple mathematical formulae repeated many times?

    Look up ‘Mandelbrot set’ and see how easy it is mathematically to get very complex and different results from simple initial criteria!

    love.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  10. A lot of things are indeed cultural, but I still think there are values we all share. I don’t believe anyone wants to suffer badly, and very few if any would think it’s OK for others to inflict it on them. Still, some people are just mean, but that’s another story. Thanks!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  11. I trust that we are both, nature and nurture, how could we be otherwise. The genetic makeup and the environmental makeup of an individual is something the individual did not determine, it is.
    How we deal with those two sets of parameters is up to the individual and by pure chance, luck is not under any one persons control and is usually discounted because we as individuals like to think we are in control.
    Granted you can decide who to vote for and hard work may get you what you want but if you are anything of a skeptic… nothing is done in isolation.
    For every person alive right now, an unknown are perishing, disease, conflicts, stupidity.
    Individuals have to put credence that they are doing their best and trust in certain laws of nature, the earth goes around the sun, the second law of thermodynamics, germ theory of disease. Individuals need to educate against ignorance, not all has the freedom to do so, intellectually, opportunity wise, in this way, we are indeed, lucky.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  12. The recent events worldwide have shown that the Freedom of speech and freedom of opinion are again under serious peril. Lots of people do want to silence certain religious groups or do react strongly when certain people expose something what went wrong or what is falsely placed on the internet. We do know there is a president who loves to say it is all fake news, concerning the real facts which are published, but we must be aware that there are many groups who want to desinform the public and who tell lots of lies.

    Our society has to take care for that the next generation also learns its history and learns to analyse writings in the press, but also has to learn to debate, because that looks something which many cannot do.

    In certain countries people are so afraid of anything which has a smell of being social. Often they do not come to see that we as human being have to take care of each other and that it is also our duty to take care of our environment.

    Strangely enough the states which claim to be so Christian are often the ones who are so egocentric and who are not seeing that Jesus in fact was a communist avant la lettre.

    Like

    Reply

  13. In the end here (this post) you presented an altruism in the following sense: All ideologies which don’t abide the truth that “Opinions” being preferential indoctrination must unfailingly be wrong due to bias is a thought I have embraced since forever. I found myself disanimated by the same truth. Disarmed and this exactly is what the labeled depresssives actually experience, a crossing over from the fiction, fabric supplied by the creative mind into the evolution of “Reality” as it should be. I have found them to be high functioning where truth is concerned by comparison to all the drones. Thank you for this great post.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

      • Not for nothing are we killing one another off due to preferences: “Purpose”, value identification. Fear of losing that sense of self we have erected, lose that and we stand on shifting sand (this scenario also created by a frightened Psyche, nonetheless feared). Yes, it is the Void Inherent within which plays havoc with the soul (Psyche). Where will we find our self if we cast aside our similitude Psyche provided?

        Liked by 1 person

  14. Your viewpoint echoes a Foucauldian perspective, largely rooted in discourse. I agree with you. Any psychological concept is better viewed as being influenced by nature and nurture. I also hate the pseudo-science of personality psychometrics but that’s a whole different story. Thanks for the good read!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  15. Personality is tough. Socialized in so many different ways… by society, by the people of our inner circle, the things we read…. years of change. And personality is often a subjective opinion from someone else’s perspective or the way a person behaves depending on who they are around at the time.
    wow, you’ve made me think on this one.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  17. Our guild has to charter tutelage for that the side by side(p) coevals also memorises its history and memorises to analyse writings in the wardrobe, but also has to memorise to debate, because that looks something which many cannot do.
    Granted you can make up one’s mind who to voter turnout for and heavy work may produce you what you need but if you are anything of a skeptic… nothing is done in isolation.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  18. Luckily, socialization is an enduring process that transcends our cultured upbringing. Given our proclivity to resilience, I believe re socialisation comes firstly with objectivity and a different perspective. Only a few schools of thought believe that this is static. This brings to mind the Nature v. Nurture debate. Great piece.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

Leave a comment