Subjectified

Subjectified refers to the process by which something objective or external becomes the focus of subjective experience or interpretation. It involves the shift from an impartial, external viewpoint to one that is personal, internal, and influenced by individual feelings, beliefs, and perceptions. This can occur in various contexts, such as in art, where a landscape might be subjectified by an artist to express their emotional response rather than simply depicting its factual appearance.

In psychology, subjectification can describe how individuals internalize external societal norms or expectations, making them part of their own personal identity and value system. For instance, a person might subjectify a cultural ideal of success, making it their own driving ambition. This process is not necessarily a distortion but rather a transformation of external data into internal meaning.

The term also appears in discussions of language and discourse, where objective statements can be subjectified through the use of modal verbs, adverbs, or personal pronouns that indicate the speaker's attitude or belief. For example, changing "It is raining" to "I think it is raining" or "It seems to be raining" subjectifies the observation. Understanding subjectification helps to analyze how information is processed, interpreted, and communicated from an individual's perspective.