I am currently celebrating the holiday season along with seventeen family members in the warm state of Florida. This Christmas not only served as a heart-warming holiday, but also as a long-awaited family reunion! So, I'm sure that you guys know the drill. Whenever some new relative arrives, there are greetings to be delivered. And with these three kisses on the cheek come exclamations of astonishment.
Oh my, how you've grown!
Goodness, you used to be so shy!
When did you get so loud?
You used to be wise like your father...what happened?
Alright, I'm kidding about the last one, but you guys know what I mean. Some of these relatives I have not had the chance to see for some time now. Their perceptions of me are ones representative of the past. They remember a younger Sam, one that was quite different than the one that exists now. So my question is: How readily are perceptions changed? Are they engraved in stone or malleable clay? Does it depend on the person? Also, what sorts of perceptions are more difficult to erase and renew? Which are the easiest?
I feel that newer, younger generations are more able to change their perceptions/views about people, places, and things. Can this generalization be made, or is it too far of a stretch? Just wondering.
(Samantha Maliha)
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I think that a lot of these perceptions have to do with the amount of time you spend with these people. The more time you spend with someone, the more malleable the person's perceptions of you are. For example, if you see an aunt only once a year, she only has a limited knowledge of our personality, looks, etc. Therefore, until you meet that person again, the person sticks with the limited perception they have of you. I don't think that it really doesn't have anything to do with how old you are. Although, I can be completely wrong...
Hello, everyone!How's your break?
That the younger generations are more readily to change is a common generalization shared by most people. I tend to agree with it. Old people have held their views longer than young people. Therefore, changing their ideas would be much harder.
I guess one's brain is not as flexible as one gets older. For example, teaching how to use computer to a 7 year old and to a 80 year old would be quite different. Although it may be affected by personal abilities(For example, my 87-year-old grandfather is very good at computer), most people would agree that changing/learning at a young age is more convenient and faster than doing so at an old age.
(Jennifer Park)
I agree with Mary. The more time you spend with someone, the more malleable the person's perceptions of you can be. To answer your question, Sam, I do think that how readily one changes his/her perceptions depends on the individual. If a relative is rather stubborn and does not seem to understand that the person he/she has not met in years has indeed changed, then his/her perceptions are practically "engraved in stone."
I think that "visual" perceptions are the easiest to erase or renew, such as physical appearance. In other words, when you meet a relative who has not seen you in years, his/her perception of the way you look, your height, your similarity to your parent, etc. can easily be changed, since the relative clearly stands before you and verifies with his/her own eyes that you have changed. Hence, he/she can easily adapt his/her perceptions accordingly.
However, perceptions of your personality or the way in which you behave may be more difficult to erase and renew because such perceptions can't exactly be "verified," since they belong to the intensional world of connotations rather than the extensional world of denotations. Thus, the relative may find it more difficult to understand why or how your personality has changed. Does this make any sense?
I also agree with the generalization that younger generations are able to change their perceptions more readily than do older generations. Younger people have yet to develop their intensional "maps" as they encounter new territories, while older people possess maps that have already been developed since they have seen more years of education, work, traveling, etc. Therefore, it is easier for younger people to "fill in" their maps and add to their perceptions than it is for older people to erase their previously existing perceptions and replace them with new ones.
(Janet Lee)
I have experienced what Sam is talking about a couple of times. I have cousins that live in Colorado and others that live in California. My Colorado cousins used to live in Thailand, and while they were there I knew very little of them and saw them only once every few years. When they came home to live in in the States permanently, they had changed so much since the last time I had seen them that, to this day, I still associate them with personality traits that don't really exist any more (i.e., shyness). But, now that I seem them more frequently and I am more involved in keeping in touch with them, I feel like my current perspective of them is "up to date". So, I certainly think perspectives of people are determined by frequency of seeing those people. I also agree with Janet, that it is much much easier to change my perspective of a person's physical appearance than it is for me to change my perspective of his/her personality. (Although, depending on how drastic the physical change is, that can be difficult as well).
Emily T.
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