Why is it important to see another person point of view?
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Imagine this: You’re waiting for a Zoom meeting to start on a rainy day, and your new colleague is 5 minutes late with no warning. You find yourself getting agitated, and perhaps even considering the behavior to be rude or disrespectful. Humans like to imbue meaning into other people’s behavior. It’s what we do. So when a new colleague and I are supposed to have a meeting on Zoom and he’s late, I’ll come up with a reason for his lateness—most likely that he’s a jerk, or entitled, or something along those lines. These reasons I come up with are about him as a person—personal attributes he has. I’m not so likely to come up with the possibility that he had an emergency to attend to. (Well, maybe because of COVID-19, I’ll think of that. But not before COVID-19.) Of course, if I knew it was an emergency, I’d feel a lot more sympathetic. I wouldn’t be annoyed. Show So when my colleague finally gets on the call, he says, breathless: “So sorry, the house is flooding.” Now I feel like a jerk, but I’m glad I didn’t say the snarky things I was thinking, because I try to treat people respectfully. Why was my first reaction to think he’s a jerk rather than think there might be an emergency? I did what most Americans do: I attributed the colleague’s behavior to internal causes—in this case, personality—rather than situational causes, such as an emergency. This tendency to attribute other people’s behavior to internal causes rather than situational ones is called the fundamental attribution error. (Fun fact: The fundamental attribution error is less strong in collectivist cultures such as those typically found in Asian and South American countries.) Avoiding Fundamental Attribution Errors Particularly with negative events, the tendency can lead to problems: We’re likely to attribute negative events to internal causes in other people—their personality, their values, or some other aspect about them, not to the situation itself. We then can form an erroneous negative opinion about them and their behavior. Which is precisely why it’s important to understand other people’s perspectives. Because my perspective on the situation is often distant from the other person’s perspective (because we’re each falling prey to the fundamental attribution error) and we’re both only operating with partial, and biased, information. We also can make internal attributions based, as least in part, on aspects of the person that are visible, such as race, gender, attractiveness, and so on. We don’t take into account their situations. Many non-Black Americans, learning more about the lived experience of being Black in America, recently have become aware of one form of a pitfall of the fundamental attribution error. For instance, when reading in the news about the arrest of a Black man, we non-Blacks might have attributed the arrest to something about that man (“he must have done something to deserve being arrested”), but not about the situation (“there was only a vague description of the alleged perpetrator”). Learning about the situation—about the lived experience is vital to understanding a fuller picture. That’s why the recent push in workplaces and personal lives for non-Black Americans to understand the perspective of Black Americans—what their situations have been and are like—is so important. So that we can override the fundamental attribution error and change our behavior. Reading books by Black authors that describe their history, experience, and perspective, as on the best-seller lists, can provide some of that missing information. So can talking with people from different backgrounds and life experiences, or learning about the lived experience of being Black by standing in their shoes—literally—in virtual reality. Get curious. Turn on your empathy. Change your attributions, and the behaviors that flow from them will change, too. Robin Rosenberg, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist, author, executive coach, and CEO of Live in Their World, a company that addresses issues of bias and incivility in the workplace through virtual reality. Post Views: 932 Perspective Taking: Why Now?The moment is tense, and baffling. You look at each other with surprise, hurt, and disappointment. How did this misunderstanding occur? How did you end up at such cross-purposes? What planet is this person from, anyway?!? Unfortunately, some of us have found ourselves in this situation. Maybe it occurred over a video call with a colleague, in a Zoom with family, or during a recent shelter-in-place moment in your household. From the Covid-19 pandemic to the Black Lives Matter movement, 2020 has been a challenging year. But these challenges have some people on the path to learning about, advocating for, and standing with perspectives that are not their own. Others are standing in opposition, holding opposing viewpoints that are dividing our country and pitting groups against each other. What causes some people to seek consensus, understanding, and collaboration, while others become even more entrenched in the status quo? How might people, despite differences in experience, thought, and action, find common ground and build solutions that are mutually beneficial? We need to learn how to understand the perspectives of others. Others view us differently than we view ourselves, and our shared circumstances don’t result in shared conclusions. However, our goals still have equal value. To understand this, we need to engage in perspective taking. What is Perspective Taking?It has been defined as:
In other words, it’s the ability to put ourselves in the place of someone else while recognizing their point of view, experience, and beliefs. This recognition creates the basis of understanding between people. There is no way to perfectly take the perspective of another individual. However, the conscious attempt to understand another’s point of view can build new neural pathways, create real learning, and reshape interactions. Imagine if in the situation above you were able to pause, take a deep breath, and try to imagine things from their point of view. Then, through understanding and effort, you could have a fruitful discussion instead of a heated argument. That is the power of perspective taking. This is a skill that can be learned and practiced. Some of us find it easier to master than others, but it’s a technique that anyone can access at anytime, anywhere. However, we all have to overcome some common barriers—ourselves. Your Brain’s Job Is Self-ProtectionIt is important to acknowledge that our brains are hardwired to egocentric anchoring and adjustment. In other words, the very organ we use to make sense of our world places us at the center of our world. It makes us the hero and gives others supporting roles. This phenomenon explains why we immediately refer to our own experiences, opinion, and perspective as our base point. When we engage in perspective taking, we move away from this egocentric starting point in order to understand others.(1) It’s not easy–the process is gradual and requires hard work. The good news? With practice, our skills improve. As we reach positive outcomes, we become more and more motivated to put in the effort. A Virtuous CircleIn order to start putting this skill to work, you need motivation. Learning the skill to take perspective means nothing if there is no propensity or intention to use it.(2) Cultivating the desire to strengthen your perspective-taking muscle lies in recognizing the importance of it. Why is it important? What are its benefits? Why should I use it? At AMP Creative, we are hard-pressed for reasons NOT to use it, because all the research points to its benefits. Let’s take a look. Why is Perspective Taking So Important?
…The list goes on. From conflict resolution to creating meaningful connections and designing human-centered products, perspective taking is a valuable skill set. How Do I Start?A simple way to start using this practice in your daily life is by using the Four-step Perspective Taking technique by Amy Lou Abernethy. We recommend this because we use it at AMP Creative in our day-to-day work and in the perspective-taking workshops we create for our clients. Practicing frequently will help you sharpen your skills. You can start by employing this process anytime you run into a design problem, team conflict, family misunderstanding, or other interpersonal issue. This technique focuses on four points in the process:
You can learn more about this technique–and the four obstacles we all face in the process–in our Guide to Perspective Taking. Working with a team? Once you cover the basics, you can practice perspective taking in your workplace using these team activities. Because your collaborators can give you real time feedback on your process, practicing with others is vital to growing this skill. Bringing Perspective Taking to Your WorkplaceThis growing field of study offers great promise for the improvement of interpersonal relationships, workplace dynamics, and societies writ large. That’s why we at AMP Creative are pioneering the use of perspective taking in corporate L&D. We’re developing workshops, materials, and exercises so you can bring this skill to your corporate workforce. Want to bring perspective taking to your organization? We’ll help you create a custom plan. Take your leadership, sales, or diversity and inclusion training to the next level–contact us about a hosting a perspective-taking workshop for your company. Sources
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