We make mistakes because we are imperfect human beings. We are not endowed with perfect intelligence, emotion or logic. Our bodies are not designed to last forever. The organs that are important to making decisions and judgments breakdown due to substance abuse, environmental influences or diseases which can be either genetic or biological in origin. God did not create us to be the perfect human beings that we like to think we are.

People can make errors in making decisions partly because of ignorance, bias, a lack of information and arrogance. Mistakes are sometimes caused by a lack of intelligence, maturity and prejudice or bias against someone or something. The reasons as to why we make mistakes are in truth, too numerous to name.

We are imperfect beings in an imperfect world, therefore, it is only logical that we make mistakes. We are products of genetic and environmental influences, which, for the most part, are far beyond our control.

People must learn to live with their own imperfections and be tolerant of other peoples imperfections. Learning to live with our mistakes and to learn from them is our gateway to near perfection. We will never be perfect. Human beings are incapable of complete perfection. When we reach the pinnacle of our lives we can only hope to achieve near perfection and not perfection.

Social influences can help to determine the degree that our human flaws effect our lives and decision making skills. We are influenced by early socialization. When we are young we conform to certain expectations that our society places upon us. These early socializations may require certain behaviors from individuals based on race, religion, culture and even sex. Conforming to societies expectations of us may influence the choices we make in life both, good and bad.

Societies expectations change over time, but the effects that our learning experiences have had on our choices, decisions and judgments may remain constant. One example of this type of conflict is "the generation gap". Conflict can develop between members of two different generations of people because of differences in age and early learning experiences.

Psychological variables can enter into the realm of making decisions that result in errors in judgment. Mental disorders, trauma, retardation and a host of other psychiatric problems can render us incapable of making competent, rational judgments and decisions.

Humans were not designed or equipped biologically, physically, emotionally or mentally to be perfect beings. We will always make mistakes. This is part of our humanity. The refusal or inability to learn from or correct our mistakes because of narcissism, arrogance or emotional immaturity is considered to be a flaw in character, not a part of humanity.

Learn more about this author, Danette M. Scott.
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