Over the years, we’ve accumulated many a piece of information, which gives way to our beliefs and understandings. However, this suggests that we understand according to what we believe, but how can we know if what we believe is true? Or, it may be better to say, how can we know if what we believe will serve our purposes effectively? This situation is commonly experienced when studying a language because there are a lot of conceptions in regard of the other culture which, if we’re not careful enough, could easily become misconceptions.
In order to avoid prejudice and misunderstandings, we need to explore our mental representations constantly. For further information about how cognition and mental representations work and how we can explore them, click on the next link and, if you feel like it, ask an advisor about it.