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| "A Window on the Street" by John French Sloan (1912) |
Sometimes it is easier to see how someone else's experience and background might shape or skew their perception of the world. It can be more difficult to recognize the ways in which your own perception of the world might be shaped in similar ways.
Have you ever had an experience in which you came to realize that your frame of reference (your gender, family history, income level, etc.) was shaping your perception of the world, causing you to see things differently than someone else might? If another person were characterizing your frame of reference, what might they find identify as your potential "blind spots"?
There are many times that this has happened to me. For instance, I have always looked down on other teenagers who do not have a job. In my family each child goes out and gets a job at 16 and starts doing their best to support themselves. My families middle class income is the cause of this thinking. If I grew up in a high income environment I would probably not be expected to get a job at 16 and work until death. My gender has also framed my perception of the world. For example, I have always had a fear of strange men and being alone. I feel that young women are taught to fear men and are convinced that we are weak and more likely to be kidnapped, raped, etc. I have no experience that should cause me to fear walking alone in a dark parking lot, but as a woman I have been taught to be afraid.
ReplyDeleteMorgan Hicks
Being creatures of habitual nature, humans prefer to be around familiar things. We do not like changes or opposition to our “implicit frames of reference” (Mlodinow 15). However, changes come with experiences which will eventually merge with our initial references, despite how much we may not desire the changes to happen.
ReplyDeleteAs we encounter new individuals, new cultures, and distinctly different “frames of reference we find that opposition lies within these changes. Personally, having gone to Catholic school since 3rd grade, I have not experienced significant opposition; individuals may have had different opinions, but there was a core principle that we all agreed upon. However, a significant difference between some of my peers and me was our income levels. Going to school with a large population of wealthy families, my family was the quarter that was enrolled in work grant, inherited used uniforms, and decided if we truly wanted to spend our money on take-out. My perspective was significantly different from the students who bought two-hundred dollar shoes for prom. As a result, I learned to be thrifty. I drove carefully because I knew that if I wrecked my car, I would not have a ride and would be waiting on my parents, unlike my classmates who would have a brand new car the next day if they wrecked theirs. Going to an event usually meant deciding to stay after school until it started, instead of using the gas it took for the hour drive to and from my house. Having a different perspective, my personal friends and my actions represented my “frame of reference.” Among my friends, we shared similar circumstances. This fact supports the idea that humans, as creatures of habit, prefer what is most familiar to them.
Opposition, for most, is the main experience that reveals our “blind spots.” As my AP History teacher once said, “We learn best what we learn first.” Being accustomed to our perception from early childhood, we often defend something and believe in it whole-heartedly without being educated about it. An example I might use is my evolved view of stem cell research. Before I was educated about stem cell research, my belief system, coupled with what little I knew about it, told me that the research went against my views. However, after learning about it and discovering the different types of research, I find it fascinating. Other times, our blind spots can occur from having little to no experience in something and not knowing the proper way to react. In my case, I believe college will expose some of my blind spots, as it will usher me into a new environment with varying perspectives. New experiences, opposition, and encountering different viewpoints enable us to determine our blind spots and keep them from interfering with our decision making.
Darby Heard
There is a specific frame of reference that came to my mind after thinking on this question for a few minutes and reading the previous responses. This frame of reference comes from many years of conditioning and learned behavior as well--this from of reference being illness. As a child I was constantly being told by my pediatrician that I had strep-throat or a sinus infection, so growing up if I felt even a little under the weather I was convinced that I needed to seek out help from my parents and potentially a medical professional. This may seem like a strange frame of reference, but as I continued to grow and develop I learned more about my medical history and personal immunity enough to realize that I suffer from an auto-immune disorder. Having established that frame of reference, I think that one frame can emerge from another. An example being that whenever I am feeling under the weather, I automatically go into an auto-pilot mode where I am "fighting" the feelings. This habit is what causes me to wake up, get dressed, and walk across campus to go to class when my joints are aching and my head is reeling. Though sometimes I feel like I make the conscious decision to get up and go, after reflecting upon my daily habits and previous experiences I feel like this is just a part of life that I muddle through without much thought or feeling. I know what I have to do, so I do it regardless of how I feel physically or mentally.
ReplyDelete-Emily Davis
Growing up in a small town, everyone was pretty much on the same level, financially and belief-wise. There were a few people who may have had a little less money or a little more money, but not many. Most everyone in my high school had to get a job at 16 and pay for their own gas and insurance. This fact has definitely helped to color my view on the world, as Morgan stated, because I do tend to judge others who don't have a job. For me, a job has helped me to become more independent and ready for college, but I can't understand how someone who hasn't had that responsibility could possibly be ready. Now, that person may look at me and say that having a job made me grow up too fast, and therefore actually hurt me in the long run. It all depends on how they were raised and what the foundation of their beliefs is.
ReplyDeleteMy particular frame of reference is different than that of Morgan,Kendall, and Darby’s in that, although in no way, shape, or form is my family “well off”, I’ve never had to hold down a job. I’m the only child of two middle-class, blue collar workers who have had to work hard for everything they’ve ever owned. Neither of my parents attended college, wore designer clothes, or drove new cars. My mother and father were both part of large families who could not afford to support them once they reached the age of sixteen. Instead of going to her senior prom like most of her peers, my mother worked the drive-thru at McDonalds; likewise as soon as my father graduated from high school, he went to work in an oil field six days a week and even supported my grandmother financially.
ReplyDeleteMy upbringing has been entirely antithetical to that; my parents intentionally made it so. Because of the struggles both of my them had to face, they set out about providing things to their child(ren) that they always wanted. Which I consider a typical goal, every generation wants it better/easier for posterity. Compared to others’ frames of reference, however, my parents took that to the extreme. I’m an only child by their choice, which is ironic, considering the two of them are from families that took the idea of procreation seriously. As previously mentioned, they were not raised by parents that made education a priority, so they wanted to make that possibility for me. In high school my parents and I agreed that if I did well in my classes, I would not have to work. It was made clear though, that if I didn’t wish to prioritize my grades and did not intend to go to college, I’d need to get a job. My parents, in their infinite wisdom, also taught me the art of budgeting and frugality, so I don’t feel as though they reared me with the sense of entitlement that others I went to school with possessed.
Do I believe that this all has an influence on my “frame of reference”? Most definitely! Conscious, self-analyzing Kristina, or perhaps another person, would state that type of upbringing has likely left me blind, in some way, to the struggles of others, despite me knowing the hardships my parents had. I do attempt to consciously combat that by putting myself in the shoes of others.
I also firmly believe not having to share the limelight with other siblings has drastically skewed my “frame”. I can vividly remember the first time I went on a play date with a friend: they called out to their mother but she didn’t hear them, she was too distracted caring for their younger sibling whose crying could put a banshee to shame. While to the average child, that isn't a life changing event, it was a complete paradigm shift to my naïve psyche. “What? Other kids’ parents don’t focus all of their attention on them?” It was a very traumatic play date, after which, I stopped asking Santa for a baby sibling.
Through that experience and many others like it, I’ve been able to gather that my “frame” of reference is unique to me, though another’s may have similarities, they will never be identical to mine. I wonder what blind spots I do have, but I’m confident that, to paraphrase to Darby, the mingling of all of our frames of reference in college will enlighten me to these blind spots, and also allow me to expand my ability to empathize with others.
-Kristina Mayfield
My frame of reference definitely shaped my perception of the world in different ways. I was not raised in a wealthy or poor family. My family has a middle-class income. I was raised to be frugal. My father taught me how to properly manage my money from a young age. I have grown into a person who is very efficient in the ways in which I spend money. Because of this, I have judged anyone who got whatever they wanted no matter how expensive it was. I have seen people suffer from poverty in ways that I cannot even begin to explain. I do not think that it is a bad thing for people to buy nice things that they want, but it has become so predominant in our society to only think of oneself when new items have been invented.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing that has molded a different view in my life would be my gender. I am a young teenage girl. I cannot help but be cautious when I am alone, especially at night. I have formed a sort of judgment on anybody who is around me. I am wary of anyone who I see or hear behind me when I am alone. I do not think that this is a bad thing, but it does make it harder for me to trust people.
I have gone through a lot in my life, just like everybody else. Occurrences have changed who I am and how people see me. I used to be very religious; I went to church every Sunday and Wednesday since I was born. It was abnormal for my family to not go. I never developed a view of the world in the religious sense. On the contrary, it seemed to just always be there. I labeled other people as bad, evil, and immoral for doing things that was burned and engraved into my mind as being wrong. After having to go through my parents divorcing, a tornado that destroyed my house while I was there, and my sister having extremely dangerous personal issues, I completely changed the way I see everything and everyone. My life changed entirely. I know what it is like to lose everything you cherished and worked for. I know what it is like to feel yourself changing, yet you do not know who you are changing into. I honestly have no idea how people see me now because I have changed so much within the past few years. Hopefully, by being placed in a new surrounding with new people, some light will be shed of what my blind spots are. After all of this, I realized that you can completely change your view of the world. It is like seeing the world with a new pair of eyes.
I can relate to Morgan's comment about feeling physically inferior to males simply because I am a woman. I am an athlete and have taken several self defense courses. If a situation were to arise, I believe that I could take care of myself, yet, every time I go for a run, I always carry my pepper spray. While I enjoy the extra security it gives me, I find it strange when males who are less physically capable than I am never consider the dangers of being harmed.
ReplyDeleteAnother bias I have comes from my family history. My father is a Mexican immigrant who came to the United States when he was eighteen. He learned the language, put himself through college and, later, medical school. This family history has instilled a "can do" spirit within me. I have been taught to believe that I can do anything I put my mind to. This bias would be a fully positive one if I only applied it to myself, but I tend to apply this belief to the rest of the world as well, and it typically leads to frustration. I have caught myself becoming extremely frustrated with friends and strangers who live their lives "stuck", never moving to where they want to be because they think they can't. I suppose biases can be both positive and negative.
For me, I have learned early on that my life experiences will influence my future choices. Though I do not realize each of the examples in my life, I am becoming more aware of certain times and situations that have determined my current beliefs. I wish for myself to be strong enough to make these decisions on my own, but my underlying memories of the past seem to have more control.
ReplyDeleteThis has constantly happened to me. I think that it is very rare for two people to see the world or circumstances in the exact same way. I grew up with two older brothers and it was hard for us to always see things in the same way because of our gender differences. I, also, sometimes have arguments with my boyfriend of almost two years. Even people who are best friends and have been together for a long time have different views on certain things. I have instances where I go above and beyond for other people and sometimes they do not do the same for me or do something to hurt me. My boyfriend, who has also had the same problem before, believes that I put too much faith in people. For the longest time I didn't see too much harm in trying to see the best in people, but once I started getting ran over more and more, I was able to see my boyfriend's concern more clearly. I think it is a great thing to listen to and understand other people's view of the world or circumstances because it can help develop ourselves into better individuals.
ReplyDeleteKelsey Jackson