I don't believe stereotypes are a good thing *but* they seem to
be a reality that I can't avoid entirely.
So I get around it by recognizing that there _may_ be *some*
truth in the stereotypical labels thrown at me through the years
and I have learned the ways in which I appear to fit vs where I
actually *do* fit vs where I don't fit.
Consider it in these terms:
Scripts.
Through life, we accumulate scripts we like. They can come from
movies, from people we admire, from people we don't like.
They're little little plays that we re-enact over and over again
as we go through life.
Someone says a particular thing, then we respond in a fashion
that feels agreeable and then we carry on.
But - what of what we said is actually "you" and what is part of
a script you learned long ago and only feels like you?
Example: I consider myself unique and an individual. Why do I
think that? That's a way of thinking. That way of thinking came
from somewhere.
Scripts. I like the script where I play the part of the guy who
is an individualist, that believes everybody is unique and a
special sunflower that's been unrecognized by this harsh world
we call home.
I'm the perfect middle school guidance counsellor. In fact, on
career tests, that often shows up as #1, and I can't argue it -
I could be one tomorrow.
But why? It's one of the scripts that suits me and that I follow
unconsciously most of the time. I'll give another example of
how we can follow scripts and not even see it:
You said:
"As humans we want to put people in boxes but my brain just
doesn't do that until I really know the person.
Of course it makes sense, but it doesn't make sense coming from
you. "
Ask: Why doesn't it make sense coming from me?
It's because I didn't follow the script there. And now for the
part that blew *my* mind when I realized it:
EVERYTHING I JUST SAID IS ALSO A SCRIPT. It's because I read a
book called Scripts People Play that was sitting on the back of
the toilet growing up and was part of a pop psychology movement
of the time:
[1]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behavioral_script
So what's me?
Where am I?
Damned if I know tongue emoticon
And THAT - those last three lines, makes me fit the stereotype
of the "typical INFP" - a stereotype I'm _mostly_ ok with
sometimes tongue emoticon I like archetypes better than
stereotypes anyway tongue emoticon Right there, I was playing
the archetype or Trope of the "Wise Dad" from TV shows Who
Explains It All. I'm not though. I'm just a guy sitting behind
his computer typing in a facebook group.
References
Visible links
1.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behavioral_script
