Characteristics Of An Intolerant Person

Intolerance is inability to accept opinions contrary to or different from our own Etymologically, intolerance is a term of Latin origin that comes from the word “intolerance””, which translates as “he who cannot stand other opinions.” For this reason, intolerant people are defined as people incapable of tolerating situations, ideas or people who do not agree with their own thoughts.

Throughout history, intolerance has been the cause of humanity’s great conflicts, whether due to race, sexuality, religion or political ideology. The saddest and cruelest episodes in human history began because of intolerance.

Furthermore, intolerance brings with it intransigence and discrimination , since those who project it are incapable of establishing a dialogue to promote coexistence. Next, we will show you the main characteristics of an intolerant person.

One of the first characteristics of intolerant people is that they are full of prejudices that They lead them to make value judgments above all Therefore, they have many established stereotypes, by which they judge “a priori” to any person, idea or opinion, without even getting to know them.

In addition, they are specialists in judging others all the time due to their ideals, values ​​and thoughts. If you want to know the consequences of this behavior, in this article, we tell you how prejudices affect society.

Since intolerant people are faithful defenders of their ideas, they have a high degree of fanaticism towards what they believe. Thus, They express an overflowing and excessive passion for their thoughts with the aim of getting others to accept their point of view.

It is common for fanaticism to be greater among groups of people who share the same thought, which often ends in interpersonal conflicts.

One of the main characteristics of an intolerant person is that, apart from fanaticism and prejudice, they show a high level of discrimination towards those who do not share their ideals. He even loses patience quickly and loses control at the slightest hint of different thoughts.

Generally, it discriminates for reasons of religion, race, sexual orientation or any other ideology The truth is that he always looks for an issue or some orientation to justify unequal and disrespectful treatment.

As we already mentioned, intolerant people are characterized by defending their position with great passion, but not only that, they are unable to listen to the point of view of others They always think that the truth only belongs to them. Therefore, knowing or listening to what others think or say becomes a waste of time for people who are highly intolerant.

In order not to give in to their position, intolerant people invent and create unrealistic scenarios, data and information to support their theory. Another characteristic of this type of personality is that, when cornered by another person’s opinion, They resort to other psychological strategies to defend themselves such as aggressiveness or mockery.

Other characteristic features of intolerant people are that their mental and psychological schemes are very rigid, that is, They are not able to accept a contrary thought In fact, that makes them very anxious.

Some studies indicate that this psychological rigidity or dichotomous thinking can also cause some cognitive inflexibility. Thus, intolerant people have great difficulty modifying their learning systems and beliefs. This leads them to adopt aauthoritarian attitude to hide your insecurities

Continuing with the characteristics of intolerant people, one of their most striking aspects is that they cannot tolerate changes in their usual routines. In fact, for them what is known gives them security In other words, they do not like to explore new things so as not to have to face and assimilate any changes in their lives.

Intolerant people have high authoritarian traits. For them only Their ideas have value and they must impose them At whatever price. In the same way, they try to overshadow other people’s thoughts. For this reason, they tend to become aggressive in any communicative exchange and seek to impose their opinions above others.

Another characteristic of an intolerant person is that their the quality of your interpersonal relationships is low Their authoritarian and imposing behavior makes it difficult for people to enjoy being next to someone who is intolerant.

Let us remember that personal relationships are based mainly on trust, respect and the ability to be empathetic with others and, obviously, these traits are not present in an intolerant person. If you want more information about it, in this article, we tell you how to maintain good interpersonal relationships.

Perhaps this is one of the most dangerous characteristics of intolerant people, since they see the opposite thought as an enemy. In this sense, they see all people who do not have the same opinion as them as enemies. As a consequence, his social circle is usually very small and they have very little support if any problem arises.

Intolerant people react explosively and aggressively to any individual who does not think like them. In fact, heContrary opinions become a threat that unleashes anger and hostility. Furthermore, they are incapable of correctly managing emotions, which is why they end up involved in a climate of aggressiveness and irritability.

If an intolerant person receives criticism, advice or opinion about something they are not doing correctly, immediately your reaction will be aggressive and will not accept any point of view that is not his own. All criticism becomes threats to your own truth.

An obvious characteristic of intolerant people is that they like to have everything under control. As we already mentioned, they have a lot of mental rigidity when it comes to their daily routines. Thus, Sudden and simple changes alter them immediately

Likewise, his way of seeing life has no nuances, that is, either everything is white or everything is black. Therefore, intolerant people want the individuals around them to share that same vision.

People with a high degree of intolerance They can’t stand to see the triumph of others because they feel jealousy and envy. In fact, when someone around them is successful, they may come to see them as an enemy. Most likely, this will cause them great discomfort and even a state of constant anxiety.

Another characteristic of an intolerant person is that they have fear of the unknown and uncertainty Therefore, they enter a state of panic and anxiety if something goes beyond their control. In other words, he doesn’t like spontaneity. In these situations, we recommend reading this article on how to manage uncertainty.

This article is merely informative, at PsychologyFor we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.

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