Do you categorize people? If so, how?

[ChrisC1983]

I was talking with somebody about this and after thinking about it for a while, I think it would be interesting in the forum too.

How/do you categorize people?

By which I mean.. take myself for example. in my case.. people are blood related family, business type acquaintances, or i turn into a lonely puppy pacing the house waiting at the door wondering if they left me forever because they walked out the door (but i don't show it like that... i still feel it, but i went through enough scenarios to not act that way.. compared to how i want to). blood family is basically necessity.. i generally dislike all of my family most of the time but they all have good aspects i can hold onto so i don't just disown them. i can respect those aspects of that family member even if they're overall useless. business acquaintance is basically anything in the middle with no real variation. so whether i work with them now, or went to school with them, or only know them online.. i treat them the same way. i try to keep it all positive but i don't actually say anything of meaning (you generally dont want your coworker to know about your fathers colon cancer and won't actually sit down and tell them about your bad day, instead you'll say "i'm OK")... then, the sad puppy dog would be comparable to other people wanting to be married. i don't believe in the actual act of marriage.. staying together is great, wanted to find 1 person my whole life (didn't happen..) but for the cost and stress i'd rather put a downpayment on a house. it's simply more meaningful to me. and again, i try not to act that way in person because obviously i just sounded like some sociopathic stalker who's going to break into a window at night and redecorate the bed with rose pedals lol.. but again, it's just how i end up feeling inside

 

[Datura]

• Nuclear Family
• Family members I like to associate with
• Family members who's existence is inconsequential to me
• Friends
• Acquaintances
  
• Colleagues
  
• Gaming friends
• Everybody else

 

[Progster]

Family
Friends
acquaintances who I talk to, but aren't close friends.
acquaintances who I know by sight, but don't talk to
Students
Parents of students.

 

[DogwoodTree]

-people who intrigue me and I want to know them better
-people who are special to me and I want to protect them even if that means protecting them from myself (like when I get angry)
-people who are neutral in my existence...sometimes I have patience for them, and sometimes not
-people who are untrustworthy and I must guard myself against them

These categories are applied to people no matter their relationship or proximity to me...family, friends/acquaintances, work contacts, online buddies...a person who doesn't know I exist can be in any of these categories, just as easily as any person I grew up around. People can also shift between categories, sometimes just for a short time, and sometimes rather permanently.

 

[tree]

People who would be ok to talk to about synaesthesia
and people who wouldn't be ok to talk to about synaesthesia

As a personal experience, I mean.

 

[the_tortoise]

Not really....I think about my relationships with/to other people on an individual and contextual basis, mostly.

The categories that other people use for relationships are difficult for me to pin down (e.g. friend vs.acquaintance) -- they tend to have fuzzy boundaries and often overlap; I have no reason to make up categories of my own. If I think about people in a way where I'm grouping them together I tend to just see specific attributes of relationships, similarities and differences, patterns/threads here and there, but not really distinct categories.