Activity – The Ladder of Inference
What is the impact of jumping up the Ladder?
"Our conclusions seem obviously right to us. People can and do reach different conclusions. When they each view their own conclusions as obvious, they don’t see a need to say how they arrived at them. People see the conclusions of others as obviously wrong and invent reasons to explain why others say things that are so obviously wrong. When people disagree they often hurl conclusions at each other from the top of their respective ladders, making it hard to resolve differences and learn from each other"
When the stakes are high, this process is exaggerated and the stakes rise even higher.
Opportunity for Personal Reflection
Think of a recent incident or issue that raised the stakes for you or someone else.
- What was the observable data?
- Did everyone agree on what the data was?
- What data did you select from everything that was happening at the time?
- What meaning did you assign the data?
- What assumptions did you make?
- What did you conclude from these assumptions?
- What beliefs did your conclusions reinforce?
- What actions did you take based on these beliefs?
- What other actions might you have taken?