Methodological Belief

Trying to understand the logic and rationale informing a viewpoint very different from our own is one of the hardest intellectual and emotional leaps to make in discussion. We find that people are more open to it if it is done in short five-minute bursts.

Purposes

• To practice being disciplined believers to supplement our considerably greater experience as disciplined doubters
• To experience the “virtues and strengths” (Elbow, 1986, p. 257) of asserting belief in an unfamiliar viewpoint
• To open participants to the possibility of changing fixed perceptions
• To explore how shared beliefs can build community

How It Works

• The exercise begins with observing methodological belief in action. We usually use an example from the film Color of Fear in which a white man who has persistently doubted the existence of racism is asked, “What's keeping you from believing that life for people of color is really that harsh, cruel, and pervasive?” The answer—“You wouldn't want to think that people can be that mean toward one another”—is followed up by another question: “What if they really are?” The clip ends with the response “That's a tragedy.”
• This example is discussed as an example of methodological belief in which the white man sheds his habit of doubting and affirms, however briefly, that racism might be as pervasive and cruel as he has been told.
• The facilitator then proposes a question-statement as something for people to believe in. Examples might be as follows:
  • “The most effective organizations depend chiefly on the quality of questions people ask. Assuming this is true, how should our organization change?”
  • “Racial micro-aggressions pervade our community's processes. Assuming this is true, what do we need to do?”
• Small groups are given five minutes to brainstorm their responses and then the whole workshop, class, or meeting convenes to share their responses. People are asked particularly to share new insights and ways their views have changed.

Where and When It Works Well

1. Team building. Practicing methodological belief helps instill an awareness and appreciation of the different talents and perspectives of team members.
2. Guarding against groupthink. Even the most critically alert groups sometimes move too quickly to an assumed consensus. This technique stretches to consider alternative perspectives and possibilities.
3. When introducing a challenging idea or practice. The five-minute time limit means participants will consider challenging ideas knowing it's only for a brief period.
4. Creating an inclusive environment. When genuine and serious differences of experience and perspectives exist, this technique helps people feel their views are being taken seriously.

What Users Appreciate

1. Entertaining alternative viewpoints. Many people enjoy the creativity of briefly exploring new and alternative points of view as if they were true.
2. A worthy challenge. Trying to affirm a perspective they don't agree with is something that many participants find bracing.
3. Changing minds. It doesn't happen often, but a few participants have appreciated the change in mind-set that has come about as a result of this exercise.

What to Watch Out For

1. The artificiality of playacting. Asking people to act for five minutes as if they believe something unfamiliar is true is sometimes experienced as a waste of time. You need to remind people that striving for intersubjective understanding (Habermas, 1984) or perspective taking (Mezirow, 1991) is necessary to the kind of consensus building or conflict resolution that can move projects forward.
2. The difficulty of mental stretching. It's extremely hard to believe in a perspective or statement that challenges some of your axiomatic assumptions and even harder to imagine what things would be like if a statement you disagree with is actually true, so crafting a belief statement that provokes and unleashes creativity is crucial.
3. The potential for abuse. A situation could arise in which participants are asked to believe in some frightening things such as “Racism does not exist and is entirely in the minds of people of color” or “Indigenous people have no right to their ancestral lands” or “Climate change is a liberal hoax entirely unsupported by evidence.” Even devoting just five minutes to believing in such statements can strengthen bigotry and divisiveness.

Questions That Fit This Protocol

Here are some questions and what-if situations that we have found useful:

• “What if racism is as cruel, harsh, and pervasive as people of color say it is?”
• “What would it mean for us if feeling appreciated were the strongest motivator for working hard?”
• “What if the quality of questions we ask determines how effective our organizations and communities are?”
• “What if the thing that makes the biggest difference for how employees feel about their supervisors is the level of respect they receive from them?”