Latest issue

2021, week 41

Hello!

On this week issue, I explored the curse of knowledge, that is our ability to forget the information we know or assume what we know is commonly shared and processed by others when we communicate with people. And for the second highlight, I got intrigued by the correlation it may exist between our ability to be open to be changed and having deeper & insightful discussions.

Other people have perceptions, thoughts, emotions, beliefs, desires, and intentions that are different from your own, and these things can influence people’s behavior.

1. The curse of knowledge

‘’The curse of knowledge is a cognitive bias that causes people to fail to properly understand the perspective of those who do not have as much information as them.’’ In short, the more you know about something, the harder it is to explain. Have you noticed how easily we can forget the information we know or assume what we know is commonly shared and processed by others? This is particularly problematic in fields like sharing knowledge, predicting people’s behavior or understanding your past self. Among the different causes that explain the curse of knowledge shared by Itamar Shatz, one of them caught my attention. This one is much more sneaky, but no less important. It is called the Theory of mind. It is described as ‘’the ability to understand that other people have perceptions, thoughts, emotions, beliefs, desires, and intentions that are different from your own, and that these things can influence people’s behavior.’’ It is fascinating to me how many layers of complexity there are in the art of communicating. And the least we can do is to be aware of this complexity. It’s the first step to a less conceited and condescending communication. See online

It's so easy to switch off from what someone’s is sharing with you and just be waiting for your moment to jump in and regale your story, or share your solution.

2. Open to be changed

I often witness or myself get caught in conversations where there is no real discussion. What I mean is that each person is sharing what they are comfortable with, but there is no will to build a common story. ‘’What you were saying and why it was important doesn’t seem to matter, it just bounced off.’’ It is challenging to enter a discussion. What you get into might challenge your beliefs but you don’t have to be convinced. You might also learn something along the way by getting a better perspective on what feels unknown or far from your frame of reference. To have a real discussion we need to be open to be changed. See online

Enjoy this issue and see you next week. Take care!