The idea of a “judgment” is a loaded concept. The word judgment can bring to mind the memory of feeling insulted by someone else, assumptions you find yourself making, or a wise-minded choice that made a large desirable impact in your life. However, what is a judgment really? There are many different meanings to the word judgment, depending on what arena in which it is being used. A legal judgment is determined in a court, a religious judgment is usually linked with an almighty figure, but a psychological judgment is the kind of judgment we make every day, that has great effects on our lives and our experiences.

The American Psychological Association defines a judgment as:

 “The capacity to recognize relationships, draw conclusions from evidence, and make critical evaluations of events and people”

This definition hinges on using evidence and recognizing relationships between the evidence to come to a conclusion that is as factually informed as possible.  Factually informed judgments are the kind of judgments that are useful every day and help us live happy and safe lives, even without having all the information in a given situation.

There is another psychological process that occurs that is also labeled as a judgment at times.  This would be when someone engages in thought distortions, which are patterns of thinking where one draws an incorrect or poorly informed conclusion based on little or no evidence.  Here is an example to help explain the difference between a judgment and a distortion: Picture yourself back in school and you are at home studying for a big test for tomorrow.  Now while home you observe that your parents had unexpected company come over to watch the game, your sister is playing loud music, and you stayed up all night the night before playing video games so you are extremely tired. 

Examples of effective judgments in this situation would include “this environment tonight is unlikely to lead to studying effectively” or “I can see how the effects of my lack of sleep and waiting until the night before the test limited my effectiveness to prepare”.  This is information you can use to make the most effective choice of what to do next.  Examples of ineffective judgments, or thought distortions, would include “My house is a horrible place to live”, “it is my family’s fault why I am not succeeding in studying”, “I am a failure”, “school is too hard for me”, and “I knew I was going to fail all along and I probably won’t graduate either”.  These are just a few ways one can see the facts but make completely unfounded claims from those facts.  This may sound like an occasional mistake due to being overwhelmed, however, this type of thinking is much more common than most people realize. 

It is important that we all regularly stop and observe what we know and what we do not know and always strive to build our choices and perceptions based on facts about ourselves and our lives. So the next time you find yourself needing to draw a conclusion or make a choice in your life, remember, your feelings can be your GPS but your wisdom should always be the one driving the car.

For support in developing more factually informed judgments and reducing distortions, click here.