Multiple Perspectives
A heuristic that involves generating the points of view of everyone involved in a story or situation to reveal how the same event can be structured in different ways.
THE IDEA
Whenever there is a story with different people involved, it is a simple matter to try to generate the point of view of everyone concerned. Every student could try to generate the different points of view, or else different students could be assigned to generate the different points of view. The exercise is not so much to try to guess what other people are thinking but to show how the same situation can be structured in different ways.
When to use it
Mediating conflicts between colleagues or team members.
Analyzing case studies in business or psychology classes.
Understanding character motivations and plot conflicts in literature.
Improving decision-making in group settings by surfacing hidden assumptions.
FROM THEORY TO EVERYDAY LIFE
In practice
Team Conflict Resolution
In a team conflict, ask each member to describe the situation from their own viewpoint, then switch perspectives and retell the story from another member's perspective.
Historical Event Analysis
When studying a historical event, have students write a journal entry from the perspective of different participants (e.g., a general, a civilian, a politician) to understand divergent experiences.
A MOMENT TO REFLECT
Put it to work.
How can considering multiple perspectives change your initial opinion on a controversial issue?
Think of a recent disagreement; how would the other person describe the situation differently?
In what ways might your own perspective be limited by not considering other viewpoints?
CONTINUE THE CONVERSATION
Source texts
- Lateral Thinking A Textbook of Creativity (Edward de Bono)