Obsession with categorizing things...

For a long time, I had an obsession not with foreign languages but the families they were in. I also have an obsession with categorizing people based on benign things like college majors as well as controversial things like political party, social class, perceived mental illnesses, etc. and that has gotten me into a lot of trouble.

I don't put people into boxes because I'm shallow or judgmental, I do so because it makes it easier to remember them and just because categorizing and sorting, especially other people, just feels good, as creepy as that sounds. So, does anyone else have an obsession with putting things or people into categories?

I avoid as much as I can to categorize people because when you do so you create certain assumptions which may not be true. Then you will filter the social input and try to support those assumptions, and discard input regarding other traits. To really know someone you need to understand their mental structure, their context and the path they took in life. Now we can't ignore categories this is how the mind works, it classifies, and attaches an emotional tone. That tone will dictate if we enjoy the person. This is not a rational choice. Therefore it is of the utmost importance to understand how our own mind works in the presence of people who may make you feel good but could use that to manipulate you to serve their own selfish purpuses.

i don't see a particular issue with this. psychologists and psychiatrists have been doing this sort of thing for a very long time and they seem to get away with it. provided it's something that you keep to yourself, it's not going to actually harm anyone. and you may learn a lot about human nature into the bargain by recognising certain correlations, which can be very politically incorrect but, nevertheless, do exist. someone once said, 'say what you will, you can only speak of yourself' (i don't, at the moment, remember who), and this is very true, not just of what people say but of what profession they choose, what political and religious beliefs they hold, etc. i can generally read people very well. it's when i listen to their words that i make mistakes. so, we do have to make judgements about people, even if it's just do i trust this person or not.

I categorize people and relate them to similar people with similar traits as well. Aspies are really good at detecting behavior and in meat space, a lot of the same behaviors manifest and meld into eachother. It can look similar when many people practice social norms and everyone starts to look the same because of it.

I often use the MBTI cog function types to categorize people the most. I use this because it helped me get people more than any other tool out there. It has gotten me in trouble as well, mostly being lectured on how it isn't a real thing or how i just don't get people. I don;t get many people, but the theory actually has helped me get people more and those who believe in the theory take less offense when i bring it up. Since it is just a framework, I know how to use it appropriately since I know people also deviate fromt he cookie cutter nature of categorization as well.

I think it is just the amount of appropriateness you give to your categorizations that may hurt or help you.