Scenario 1: You’re in traffic; someone drives recklessly and almost causes you to wreck; you get angry and exhibit “road rage.” You say naughty words.
Scenario 2: You’re in a theatre; a character in a film dies; you get sad and try to hide your tears. But the sobbing is irrepressible.
Scenario 3: You’re reading T. S. Eliot’s “The Metaphysical Poets,” and come across the phrase “dissociation of sensibility.” You look up, turn a thought, but other than that, nothing happens.
Scenarios 1 and 2 are examples of personalizing. Scenario 3 is an example of depersonalizing. We spend our days personalizing and depersonalizing.
If we saw a near miss on the highway by two drivers and a subsequent road rage response, we would probably depersonalize. If we were forced to see a film on a subject for which we had no affinity, we would probably exhibit our own dissociation of sensibility.
Questions about personalizing and depersonalizing: Which of the following YouTube videos would you personalize and which would you depersonalize?
A video:
Which of the following would elicit personalizing or depersonalizing from you:
Well, you get the point, don’t you? We spend much of our days personalizing or depersonalizing our experiences. In instances involving us directly, personalizing is often, but not invariably, automatic. Depersonalizing results from distance, cognitive training, and sometimes from a neurological malady inhibits empathy. I suppose one might argue that depersonalizing is synonymous with distancing.
As you observe yourself and others over the next day, ask whether you are witnessing personalizing or depersonalizing.
Scenario 2: You’re in a theatre; a character in a film dies; you get sad and try to hide your tears. But the sobbing is irrepressible.
Scenario 3: You’re reading T. S. Eliot’s “The Metaphysical Poets,” and come across the phrase “dissociation of sensibility.” You look up, turn a thought, but other than that, nothing happens.
Scenarios 1 and 2 are examples of personalizing. Scenario 3 is an example of depersonalizing. We spend our days personalizing and depersonalizing.
If we saw a near miss on the highway by two drivers and a subsequent road rage response, we would probably depersonalize. If we were forced to see a film on a subject for which we had no affinity, we would probably exhibit our own dissociation of sensibility.
Questions about personalizing and depersonalizing: Which of the following YouTube videos would you personalize and which would you depersonalize?
A video:
- on war crimes committed by Russian soldiers during the conflict in Ukraine.
- of a debate on climate change.
- on illegal border crossers.
- on a home invader being shot by the resident.
- of the riots in Portland, OR.
- on the number of shootings during one weekend in Chicago.
Which of the following would elicit personalizing or depersonalizing from you:
- a neighbor hanging a flag on a deck.
- a report that teachers are indoctrinating students with views that run counter to what you believe to be correct.
Well, you get the point, don’t you? We spend much of our days personalizing or depersonalizing our experiences. In instances involving us directly, personalizing is often, but not invariably, automatic. Depersonalizing results from distance, cognitive training, and sometimes from a neurological malady inhibits empathy. I suppose one might argue that depersonalizing is synonymous with distancing.
As you observe yourself and others over the next day, ask whether you are witnessing personalizing or depersonalizing.
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