Judgments in perceiving others

I do not think it is possible to perceive others without in some way judging or categorizing them. We base our perception on past experiences. In order to make sense of the world around us, we compare new perceptions to those we have had in the past.
We cannot process all new information every time we see a new person and need shot cuts to make sense of what is happening around us. We often categorize and judge people (consciously or unconsciously) based on their physical appearance, how they dress, how they speak, what they choose to speak about and how they respond when we speak to them.
For example, when I see someone every day, I do not notice gradual changes. Whenever I see the person, I do not re-evaluate my perception – they are the same person in my mind. However, when someone else sees the same person after a long period of time, their physical behavior or appearance my no longer match their prior perception and the person has to relabeled.
We have to realize that we use short cuts and remind ourselves to engage in mindful processing as well. We need to remind ourselves to re-evaluate and look for areas where we may have jumped to a conclusion or unfairly judged others.
I sometimes rely on my judgments and overlook changes. It happens during discussions with my husband. He may be raising the topic to make a different point than he has made in the past. I walk away from the conversation thinking I heard something similar to what we have discussed before, but miss the new point he is making. When I check my perceptions by making comments and asking questions, I find myself less likely to do this.