Seeking differences for identity

An early idea instilled by the reading has been that people have and continue to identify themselves more as different rather than similar. As shown in the reading, both the Native Americans and Europeans distinguished themselves as different due to difference in language and clothing. However, this is not the main reason for seeking differences. According to Maslow, in a human's hierarchy of needs, self actualisation and self-esteem are of highest priority. When we meet new people, we naturally want to distinguish ourselves in order to maintain a unique identity. Based on how we perceive these differences we can have very different ways of approaching a person or a group; most commonly one might approach thinking that they are superior to another or vice versa, which happened between the Europeans and the Native Americans.