The Value and Meaning of Judgment

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Judgment as a Concept
Judgment as a Source of Errors
Judgment as a Source of Useful Knowledge
Conclusion
Works Cited

Introduction

Judgment is commonly viewed as a negative action that needs to be avoided at all cost; however, it is judgment that the humankind needs to thank for surviving till these days. Today, judgment is mainly associated with social stereotyping and old-fashioned prejudice held about certain groups or persons. At the same time, the essential and vital aspects and uses of judgment are often overlooked or unrecognized.

In reality, thinking critically about judgment, one may quickly understand that some of the most basic knowledge about the world around and the dangers it holds is based on judgment. In other words, ones staying alive and unharmed, to a massive extent, depends on how well this person can judge their surroundings, people, and environments. Quite naturally, a concept as critical as judgment made its way to literature where it can be found in implicit scenarios and questions concerning peoples ability and inability to deliver appropriate judgment in the right time and place.

The issues of proper and timely judgment, sound conclusions, and reaction to the received information can be found in the stories such as A Good Man Is Hard to Find by Flannery OConnor and Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne. In the two stories, one can find examples of correct and incorrect judgment that resulted in negative consequences for the characters due to various reasons. These examples teach readers to treat judgment with extra carefulness because it drives decision-making and often brings immediate and irreparable outcomes.

Judgment as a Concept

In the contemporary context, the word judgment is commonly associated with stereotyping, which, in turn, is aligned with prejudice and even discrimination. However, exploring the concept of judgement in a more general manner, it is possible to notice that it serves as the source of a persons values, beliefs, worldview, and approaches to various situations (Dunion). In psychology, judgment represents the ways people use to evaluate one another and the surrounding circumstances (Banaji et al. 272).

Judgment can be born from individual experiences, but, in most cases, it is the result of group interactions (Wolfe and Spencer 177). In other words, judgment is comprised of self-obtained pieces of knowledge, as well as those taught to one by other people. In that way, beliefs and ideas based on judgments may change over time due to the reception of additional information elaborating on a certain situation, object, or person (Biernat and Manis 5-7).

The process of development of judgment is, practically, learning. This process is a part of the human nature and is responsible for peoples survival throughout the entire history. For example, touching fire once, an individual would learn that it burns and form a strong judgment based on which they will avoid toughing fire again. This mechanism of imprinting information and acting on it brings a multitude of benefits, as well as a number of disadvantages such as phobias, unreasonable fears, negative perceptions dictated by others, and biases held since childhood. As a consequence, judgment can result in negative outcomes whose effect may turn out irreparable.

Judgment as a Source of Errors

Apart from helping people to survive and make decisions, judgment also may be carried out incorrectly thus becoming a source of errors. An illustration of this kind of situation is presented in the story Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne. The plot revolves around a young Christian man who, for some mysterious reason, abandons his wife for one night to come to a secret meeting with a strange older man in the forest.

From the very beginning of his journey, Goodman Brown thought of it as carried out with an evil purpose; however, he continued his way regardless (Hawthorne 221). Soon, it became obvious that the older man led him to a satanic ceremony; and, as a result, Goodman Brown decided to stay away from it. Yet, hearing the familiar voices of his village mates whom he had known as faithful Christians, including his wife, Goodman Brown becomes drawn to the ceremony where he recognizes some of the most respected village residents. Due to this encounter, his worldview is changed forever.

The ideas and beliefs he used to have about his neighbors and loved ones are crashed, and Goodman Brown is stuck in the mindset of uncertainty, distrust, and misery. This story explores the concept of judgment, prejudice, and how the entire perception of the world around that has been persistent for decades may change overnight due to a single experience. The ceremony in the forest witnessed by the main character never proved to be a dream or reality.

However, its impact on the young man was permanent. The author of the story portrayed Goodman Brown as a miserable man who never recovered from what he had seen in the forest. This is a demonstration of the importance of ones beliefs and ideas based on past judgments for their entire life and all of its aspects. Goodman Brown made a series of decisions in this story. He decided to meet the older man in the forest at night even though this meeting was extremely suspicious; he decided to stay away from the ceremony, but then changed his mind and visited it. Finally, he decided to believe in what he had seen in the forest and condemn his fellow villagers. It is impossible to tell where exactly he made a mistake, but its negative consequences remained with Goodman Brown for the rest of his life.

Judgment as a Source of Useful Knowledge

In contrast with the misjudgment of Goodman Brown, the main character of A Good Man Is Hard to Find by Flannery OConnor is right in her judgment most of the time, and this still results in horrifying consequences. To be more precise, the grandmother begins speaking about the Misfit, a dangerous criminal, and his escape from prison a day before her entire family goes on vacation trip. Worrying for her family members, she decides to join them and even tries to lead them away from the route she initially perceived as dangerous.

However, an unfortunate coincidence and an accident lead the family exactly to the Misfit and his gang. During the first encounter with the criminals, the grandmother utters her suspicions, naming the criminal. However, the correct judgment is what causes the gang to murder the entire family. The grandmother spends her last minutes attempting to convince the Misfit that he must come from nice people and that he is a good man (OConnor 238-239). However, his idea of being a good man does not match hers.

Conclusion

To sum up, it is important to note the importance of judgment and its purpose as a part of human nature and way of thinking. Judgment carries a multitude of benefits, but also serves as the source of pain, errors, anger, distrust, and fears that can persist for ones entire life. Even making a correct judgment, one my find his- or herself in trouble leading to irreparable consequences and changing this persons life forever.

Works Cited

Banaji, Mahzarin R., et al. Implicit Stereotyping in Person Judgment. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, vol. 65, no. 2, 1993, pp. 272-281.

Biernat, Monica and Melvin Manis. Shifting Standards and Stereotype-Based Judgments. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, vol. 66, no. 1, 1994, pp. 5-20.

Dunion, Paul. To Be or Not to Be Judgmental That Is the Question. Huffington Post. 2014. Web.

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. Young Goodman Brown. Reading Literature and Writing Argument. 6th ed., edited by Missy James, Alan P. Merickel, Greg Lloyd, and Jenny Perkins, Pearson, 2016, pp. 220-230.

OConnor, Flannery. A Good Man Is Hard to Find. Reading Literature and Writing Argument. 6th ed., edited by Missy James, Alan P. Merickel, Greg Lloyd, and Jenny Perkins, Pearson, 2016, pp. 231-242.

Wolfe, Connie T. and Steven J. Spencer. Stereotypes and Prejudice. American Behavioral Scientist, vol. 40, no. 2, 1996, pp. 176-185.

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