I won’t argue that we bring ourselves with us no matter where we go, but doesn’t our environment shape our decisions, behavior, and judgments? Even our perception of reality is skewed depending on the environment we are in.

If you were at a rock concert, and you saw a guy get on stage, face the crowd, then dive in, you’d probably guess with certain conviction that he’s stage diving. However, if you saw a guy get on stage at a Toastmasters convention, face the crowd, then dive in, you’d probably perceive him to be psychologically impaired somehow.

Well, I guess you might think that the people in both examples could be psychologically impaired, but you get the point. We judge one situation differently than we judge another. We are, in a sense, different people depending on our environment. Our perceptions are different, our reactions are different, and the way we respond will be unique to what’s happening around us.

Sure, it could be argued that who we are at our core doesn’t change, regardless of the environment (which is what the original saying has us believe), but I’d disagree with that. Our values, our beliefs, and behavior does change depending on our environment. [Read more…]