Limited Space
Our brains are wildly incredible. What we know about the brain is fascinating, but we know that there are still many aspects of it that we know little about.
However, one thing we do know is that our brains have limited conscious storage capacity. While experiences with heightened emotional encounters are likely to stay locked in for many years, some experiences are deemed unnecessary to continue storing in our conscious awareness.
Other memories are deemed appropriate to “group together.” I always visualize this like file folders, where our brains may notice specific patterns in our experiences and then group them.
A potential issue with this is that our brain may slide something into a “file folder” before it is appropriate.
Again, in a heated political season, politics gives us some prime examples.
Among the two sides, plenty of assumptions are being made. Somebody on the left hears “MAGA,” and they immediately assume that person is sexist, homophobic, and racist. In some cases, this does fit a person. But, at other times, our mind jumps to past experiences and fills in blanks before we’ve let a person explain.
Or, a person on the right hears someone is a liberal, and they assume socialist, communist, or anti-American.
Will these sometimes be accurate? Sure.
Is it foolproof? No.
But our brain fills in the space. It doesn’t like unknowns, so it jumps to its file folders and fills in the blanks for us. And we end up making judgments before we know the whole story. Because of those judgments, we rarely learn the entire story. Our decisions are left unchecked, and we continue.
Do you wonder how we became so politically divided? Assumptions are part of the answer.
And it goes beyond politics. Religion, social class, race, gender—the list of aspects of people we get to know goes on, and then our judgments fill in the rest.
So what can we do? We check our judgments.
We name when the surge of hate, discontentment, fear, distaste, disgust, and unease comes up. We give it space but tell it to simmer down as we don’t know the whole story yet. May these reactions be warranted? Perhaps.
But, it’s also likely that if you can remain curious and continue, you may encounter challenges to your brain’s file folders. New file folders may be created where differences don’t always mean intense division, views can be shared civilly, and productive conversations can ensue.
