23 Apr A Muggle’s Guide to Reading Minds like a Wizard (Using Science)
Most of us wonder, to varying degrees, what others are thinking about us and what kind of impression we’re making. People make lousy mind readers, but there’s a scientific way to make better guesses at practice mental telepathy (or Legilimency . . . ).
Researchers Tal Eyal (Ben Gurion University) and Nicholas Epley (University of Chicago) noted that we see things at different levels of detail. In other words, we can see the details of close things very clearly. Distant things we see in vaguer outlines, with few or no details.
We are close to ourselves, and see ourselves in excruciating detail. We think others see us the same way, but they don’t. They see us as if at a distance. If we can manage to take the long view of ourselves, Eyal and Epley maintain, we can better sense what others might be thinking about us.
The reverse works for empathy. Walk in another person’s shoes? Nope. That’s actually a lousy way to read minds. If we see ourselves under a microscope and others with a wide-angle lens, then to gauge what another person is thinking of him or herself we need to swap the wide-angle for the microscope.
At Engagious, we aren’t mind readers. But we do have some sure fire ways to get at what people are thinking–without guessing. So if you need to know what is on your audience’s mind, reach out. It’s kind of what we do here (all day long.)
And for our Muggle audience, you can read more: How to read minds like a wizard
Becoming better mind-readers – to work out how other people see you, use the right lens
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