How the majority of people perceive things is a projection of their emotional states. When someone generally has certain feelings for a long period of time, his ability to make judgments is being dictated by what he strongly feels. Thinking process seems to start with a conclusion or a set of alternate conclusions that are aligned with his feelings. The mind then has only to build what seemingly looks like a logical succession of arguments to rationalize such conclusions.
When someone is generally in a state of satisfaction, he is more likely to judge things from a positive perspective. Things look more beautiful and others seem more trust-worthy and friendly. On the other hand, when he feels down, disappointed, or hopeless he usually tends to see only the empty half of the glass, to be more critical on others, and to understand every situation only through negative explanations.
Over the past few years, I have been debating with almost the same groups of people about the political changes in our region. I noticed how their perceptions, views and opinions about what is going on and about certain concepts change with major changes in their personal lives.
Of course, the more educated the person the more objective his judgments become, but he may still be susceptible to more intense or long emotional states. Obviously, no one is invariably immune to subjectivity.
When dealing with conflict it is critical to consider how people are unaware of the subjectivity of their opinions and to be patient and compassionate enough to identify what are the factors that affect someone’s opinions. That helps giving better arguments that have the potential to bring people to more objective judgments without getting emotional yourself.
