Training Industry Magazine - March/April 2021 - 24

4 Internal Cognitive Biases

There are four common internal cognitive biases everyone faces when trying to see from someone else's perspective.
As you develop the skill of perspective-taking, you learn to recognize these biases in yourself and others.

1. Fundamental Attribution Error

" We blame others when bad things happen to them,
but blame external situations when bad things
happen to us. "
Acknowledge that luck and privilege play huge
roles in everyone's lives. Everyone we know faces
circumstances we aren't aware of. Recognize your
mistakes and hold yourself accountable for them,
and - if you haven't - try giving others the benefit
of the doubt.

4. Confirmation Bias

" We selectively focus on information that confirms
our own beliefs. "
Be open to surprise and revelation during collaboration.
Learning something new is a positive experience, but
it isn't always easy. Allow yourself to be wrong. Be
ready to accept others may have different views that
are as valuable as yours.

* 3.75 times more emotionally connected
to the content than the classroom
learners.
These are examples of how companies
are using perspective-taking experiences
in training. These are the same VR
experiences that can motivate employees
to practice perspective-taking beyond
the headset.

After Motivation, Action!

When people have impactful, VR-powered,
perspective-taking experiences, they are in
a heightened state for learning. Employees
remove the headset and are uniquely
primed for new types of behavior and
learning. They are more motived to learn.
However, even without this experience,
you can strengthen your perspectivetaking skills, using these four steps:

1. Seek understanding

When communicating with others, our
default is to consider our personal goals. In

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2. Naïve Realism

" We think we see the world as it truly is, and we expect
other rational beings to see the world similarly. [When]
others' perceptions differ, perceivers will assume the
others are too lazy to [understand], biased, or subject
to different (usually inferior) information. "
Consider why you hold your perspective. Ask yourself
if the other person has had the same experiences as
you or if your different circumstances may have led
you to different conclusions. Remember that others will
perceive situations differently. Witnessing the same
events doesn't mean having the same experience.

3. Intergroup Bias

" We prefer members of our own in-group and have
prejudice against out-group members. "
Inwardly acknowledge this bias when collaborating
with someone outside of your social circle. Seek
input from people who are different from yourself.

this first step of perspective-taking, we
mindfully choose to set aside our own
goals. Instead, we purposefully center
the perspective of the other person. We
let go of our egos. We decide, instead,
to engage with the other person's lived
experiences and the way they perceive
the world.

2. Ideate

How are they perceiving the world? In
this step, we imagine several possibilities;
we work through the common barriers to
perspective. Then, we navigate them to
see the other person clearly and imagine
how they might be thinking about a
situation. These are assumptions; they
may not be the truth, but they're as close
as we can get. We do this until we're ready
to build a hypothesis.

3. Hypothesize

Now that we have some ideas, we narrow
our thoughts down to our best guesses.
These should be solid hypotheses

we can test and use to connect in our
interaction with the other person. If our
hypothesis is correct, what outcomes
can we expect? If we are wrong, how
might we know?

4. Observe and adjust

We hold our hypothesis lightly and are
ready for new information about the other
person. Now, we are ready to engage
with, observe and adjust our assumptions.
We have an open discussion. We are
curious and ready for insights.
Were we able to connect and collaborate
with them? If yes, success! If not, it's time
to go deeper and further challenge our
assumptions. Whatever the outcome,
the process of perspective-taking isn't
over. It's a constant cycle of empathy,
imagination, estimation and discovery.
Amy Lou Abernethy is the co-founder and
creative director of learning at AMP Creative,
an agency that designs learning experiences
for enterprise companies. Email Amy.

http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:11384948

Training Industry Magazine - March/April 2021

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