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Personal Reflection On Violence

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With a prompt to reflect on myself and how I feel about violence in all its forms, I find that it is easy to focus on the negative aspects of my behavioral tendencies. I am often quick to judge and I tend to react to stimulus without fully considering the input or the alternative viewpoints possible prior to execution of my response. In being quick to judge, I am often “judging a book by its cover” when I encounter new people or situations and I find that I am constantly surprised at how incorrect my initial and, admittedly, superficial assessments are. I also believe I have a good ability to “connect the dots” on and between numerous topics and concepts. I am often lucky in that I make educated guesses about the workings of systems and processes, and in contrast to my previous self-assessment, these judgements turn out to be correct much more often.
In focusing my personal reflection on violence and more specifically on my understanding and acceptance of violence in my life, I believe these two behavioral tendencies are going to need a watchful eye. The discussion of schemas starting on page 78 in Conflict was very interesting to me specifically because of my behavioral tendencies of quick judgment. The authors compelling examples of how schemas “…come into play when one is faced with interpreting ambiguous or incomplete information and/or is under stress” (Cheldelin & Druckman & Fast (Ed.), 2008, p. 80) certainly foreshadow how my experiences and preconceptions are likely

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