HANGZHOU FAMILY
Are We Actually Speaking the Same Language? Analyzing Sources of Disagreement
O
ctober is finally here. For some people, this means that it's time to go back to school, for others, it means that winter is approaching. For the remainder, it just means National Holiday. So how is it that the same concept, idea or object can get so many different meanings? How does that influence the outcome of conversations among different people? In this article, I am going to explore some of the less obvious sources of disagreement leading to miscommunication. I will do so by giving an environmental psychology (EP) view on the matter and will also share some ways to prevent miscommunication from occurring.
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You might wonder why I decided to write about this topic. I thought a lot about what I should write and inspiration came while reading Mike Hulme's book: Why we disagree about climate change. Understanding controversy, inaction and opportunity. He writes: "We disagree about climate change because we view our responsibilities to future generations differently, because we value humans and Nature in different ways, and because we have different attitudes to climate risks." (I strongly recommend reading the book, btw!) I read this book just after coming back from a workshop in Poland, where I worked with professionals from
By Adina Deacu 邱天美 Environmental Psychologist
different fields on understanding what could be the future of a local housing estate built in the 60's for the needs of that time, but that seems obsolete according to 21st century needs. The group discussions in the workshop, as well as Hulme's ideas, confirmed what I had already noticed throughout my multidisciplinary career: we tend to disagree, not only about climate change, but also about many other issues, either because we understand the same concepts differently or because we use different terminology for the same concepts depending our field of expertise. As a result, we think that we know better than others and "fight" for our opinions, even if in essence we might be using the same
