I spent the last 15 years researching the impact of hashtag#context and hashtag#psychology on the hashtag#understanding and the decision making (particularly when developing and using software). This includes my own PhD, dozens of PhD and master project-supervisions, as well as multiple research projects at the national and international level. I have never ever learned so much about the impact of hashtag#context and of hashtag#psychology – in particular confirmation bias – like the last month. Why? Because I was personally impacted: in my surrounding and my life. I was trying to understand, why I could not reach some of the smartest and most integer people in my close network with my arguments. It was a true “learning by doing’’ experience for me, not “only’’ a study, a research project, or a literature review. An experience, from which I suffered. And I needed to understand what’s going on at any cost.
Here my brief take away:
- If you are in a hashtag#leadership position and your goal is to truly make the best decision for your community (and not to push a certain agenda),
- If you are serious about engaging in a difficult discussion and you really want understand and calibrate your stance,
- If you are serious about “standing for something’’, about helping to solve a difficult conflict (such as achieving freedom or justice for certain people),
You need two preconditions: Basic knowledge of hashtag#context (e.g. what happened when, by whom, why…) and of hashtag#psychology (particularly hashtag#confirmationbias and its potential impact on you and on the different stakeholders). These two prerequisites are indispensable. Everyone who tell you „context is irrelevant in this case“ or “it’s not the time to talk about context’’ is either clueless or willing to push a certain agenda. Everyone who tries to strongly emotionalise the understanding or the discussion (which will likely strengthen biases incl. your confirmation bias) is either clueless or willing to push a certain agenda.
