Why Do We Like To Oversimplify?

Photo by Laura Connesson on Unsplash

I’ve noticed something about people. We like to classify and name things and put them into nice, neat categories. Black and white. Good and bad. Right and wrong. But I’ve also noticed something else. Reality rarely falls into neat categories.

The Reason for Categories

People like categories because they can make it easier to talk about things. Categories like “liberal” and “conservative” help us discuss politics. Categories like “Jewish” and “Christian” help us discuss religion—as do the categories “liberal” and “conservative.”

Categories like “black” and “white” help us discuss race. Categories like “male” and “female” help us discuss gender. Labels, groups, and categories allow us to make generalizations. They make information more manageable. And they can help us see patterns better and better understand trends.

But as I said, people and things don’t always fit neatly into the categories where we place them. Let’s look at race.

Forget for a moment that people labeled “black” and “white” never truly have a skin color that matches our perception of those shades in life. Set that aside for a second. What about people who are mixed? They don’t fit into either category neatly. They need a separate category.

And there can’t be just one “biracial” or “multiracial” category without allowing biracial and multiracial people to specify the races they’re mixed with. Because this can quickly get complicated, it makes me wonder whether we’re better or worse off relying so heavily on labels.

Another Feature of Labels

Here’s another thing about labels—they’re fluid. You can change your response to something merely by changing its label. If, for instance, you decide to consider the transition from working in an office to working from home a burden, it’s going to feel like a burden. But if you call it an adventure, you’ll find ways to make it an adventure.

Similarly, if you try something and it doesn’t work out the way you wanted it to, you can call the result a failure or you can call it a learning experience. How you label it will determine the attitude you have about it going forward. It may even determine if you’re able to move forward at all.

But, you see, the essence of the result never changed. All that changed was your perception of it and the resulting label.

And what about people? If, for instance, you call someone an enemy because they look different from you or have different beliefs, you’re going to treat them as an enemy. But if you call them a friend despite your differences, you’re going to treat them as a friend. Different label, same person.

Thus, you can see it all comes back to what Juliet says. Calling a rose by another name won’t change its essence. So, what purpose do labels really serve anyway?

How INFJs Can Avoid the Label Trap

INFJs are deep thinkers. As a result, they aren’t so quick to group things and people into neat categories. In fact, INFJs—who are typically aware that they themselves are on a spectrum of INFJ-ness—are more willing to embrace the true diversity the world offers because they understand that things are not always as they seem.

INFJs like Martin Luther King, Jr. and Nelson Mandela have been able to lead movements because they understood that the world is more complicated than others would like to believe. We would do well to follow their example and focus on the essence of life around us instead of the labels we use to arbitrarily impose order on it.

(And, yes, I do recognize that “INFJ” is itself a label. I’m human, too, so of course I use labels. Language itself functions by labeling things and concepts in the world, so we couldn’t communicate without labels. And I don’t mind the ones that help us understand one another better or make us feel more connected. It’s when labels cause us to stereotype, separate, and judge that I have a problem.)

Simple Complexity

But the world is actually simple in its complexity. People have taken race, for instance, and made it the basis for all sorts of controversy and division. But in reality, we’re all people. We all desire to love and be loved. We all seek acceptance and approval. And we all yearn to find our place in this world.

If we’re going to embrace labels and use them to define us, they should be labels that unite us. Human. Children of God. Sojourners on planet Earth. Really, though, it doesn’t matter what labels we use to describe ourselves. Labels are superficial. Deep inside, we’re all the same.

Final Thoughts

I think we spend too much time focusing on the physical appearance or literal interpretation of things in this world and not enough on the spirit of those things. But when it really comes down to it, it’s the spirit that matters most.

People often oversimplify because it makes life easier to understand and manage. But life isn’t simple. People don’t usually fit into neat categories, nor do the things around us. Instead of trying to force classifications on the world, we should spend more time understanding the spirit behind what we see and experience.

Now it’s your turn. Why do you think people like to oversimplify? And how can we avoid it in areas where oversimplification does more harm than good?

~ Ashley C.

Last updated: June 23, 2022