• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

SafetyRisk.net

Humanising Safety and Embracing Real Risk

  • Home
    • About
      • Privacy Policy
      • Contact
  • FREE
    • Slogans
      • Researchers Reveal the Top 10 Most Effective Safety Slogans Of All Time
      • When Slogans Don’t Work
      • CLASSIC, FAMOUS and INFAMOUS SAFETY QUOTES
      • 500 OF THE BEST AND WORST WORKPLACE HEALTH and SAFETY SLOGANS 2023
      • CATCHY and FUNNY SAFETY SLOGANS FOR THE WORKPLACE
      • COVID-19 (Coronavirus, Omicron) Health and Safety Slogans and Quotes for the Workplace
      • Safety Acronyms
      • You know Where You Can Stick Your Safety Slogans
      • Sayings, Slogans, Aphorisms and the Discourse of Simple
      • Spanish Safety Slogans – Consignas de seguridad
      • Safety Slogans List
      • Road Safety Slogans 2023
      • How to write your own safety slogans
      • Why Are Safety Slogans Important
      • Safety Slogans Don’t Save Lives
      • 40 Free Safety Slogans For the Workplace
      • Safety Slogans for Work
    • FREE SAFETY eBOOKS
    • Free Hotel and Resort Risk Management Checklist
    • FREE DOWNLOADS
    • TOP 50
    • FREE RISK ASSESSMENT FORMS
    • Find a Safety Consultant
    • Free Safety Program Documents
    • Psychology Of Safety
    • Safety Ideas That Work
    • HEALTH and SAFETY MANUALS
    • FREE SAFE WORK METHOD STATEMENT RESOURCES
    • Whats New In Safety
    • FUN SAFETY STUFF
    • Health and Safety Training
    • SAFETY COURSES
    • Safety Training Needs Analysis and Matrix
    • Top 20 Safety Books
    • This Toaster Is Hot
    • Free Covid-19 Toolbox Talks
    • Download Page – Please Be Patient With Larger Files…….
    • SAFETY IMAGES, Photos, Unsafe Pictures and Funny Fails
    • How to Calculate TRIFR, LTIFR and Other Health and Safety Indicators
    • Download Safety Moments from Human Resources Secretariat
  • Social Psychology Of Risk
    • What is Psychological Health and Safety at Work?
    • Safety Psychology Terminology
    • Some Basics on Social Psychology & Risk
    • Understanding The Social Psychology of Risk – Prof Karl E. Weick
    • The Psychology of Leadership in Risk
    • Conducting a Psychology and Culture Safety Walk
    • The Psychology of Conversion – 20 Tips to get Started
    • Understanding The Social Psychology of Risk And Safety
    • Psychology and safety
    • The Psychology of Safety
    • Hot Toaster
    • TALKING RISK VIDEOS
    • WHAT IS SAFETY
    • THE HOT TOASTER
    • THE ZERO HARM DEBATE
    • SEMIOTICS
    • LEADERSHIP
  • Dr Long Posts
    • ALL POSTS
    • Learning Styles Matter
    • There is no Hierarchy of Controls
    • Scaffolding, Readiness and ZPD in Learning
    • What Can Safety Learn From Playschool?
    • Presentation Tips for Safety People
    • Dialogue Do’s and Don’ts
    • It’s Only a Symbol
    • Ten Cautions About Safety Checklists
    • Zero is Unethical
    • First Report on Zero Survey
    • There is No Objectivity, Deal With it!
  • THEMES
    • Risk Myths
    • Safety Myths
    • Safety Culture Silences
    • Safety Culture
    • Psychological Health and Safety
    • Zero Harm
    • Due Diligence
  • Free Learning
    • Introduction to SPoR – Free
    • FREE RISK and SAFETY EBOOKS
    • FREE ebook – Guidance for the beginning OHS professional
    • Free EBook – Effective Safety Management Systems
    • Free EBook – Lessons I Have Learnt
  • Psychosocial Safety
    • What is Psychosocial Safety
    • Psychological Safety
      • What is Psychological Health and Safety at Work?
      • Managing psychosocial hazards at work
      • Psychological Safety – has it become the next Maslow’s hammer?
      • What is Psychosocial Safety
      • Psychological Safety Slogans and Quotes
      • What is Psychological Safety?
      • Understanding Psychological Terminology
      • Psycho-Social and Socio-Psychological, What’s the Difference?
      • Build a Psychologically Safe Workplace by Taking Risks and Analysing Failures
      • It’s not weird – it’s a psychological safety initiative!
You are here: Home / Robert Long / Looking for Another Side

Looking for Another Side

December 13, 2022 by Dr Rob Long 1 Comment

Originally posted on December 18, 2020 @ 7:43 AM

imageThe Phenomenology of Perception (Merleau-Ponty) is about relearning how to look at things, to understand more than one perspective. This is the art of envisioning.

The popular series The Queens Gambit (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10048342/) is not really about chess but about understanding the Phenomenology of Perception. This is the skill of envisioning (https://www.humandymensions.com/product/envisioning-risk-seeing-vision-and-meaning-in-risk/). If you want to understand the various perspectives and perceptions on the nature of risk and safety then see here: https://safetyrisk.net/a-great-comparison-of-risk-and-safety-schools-of-thought/

One of the challenges of playing chess is not only thinking about your perspective but also trying to imagine what your opponent is thinking and planning. The key to understanding others is suspending agenda and listening. Listening to others is about much more than using your ears. Sometimes the best way to understand another’s perception is to walk a bit in their shoes, in chess terms to turn the table.

Then there is always the surprise of an action, it’s challenging to think of what others are planning and strategizing. If we look at chess as a binary mathematical process one can learn to play like a computer and maybe even win a game or two but chess is not Maths and when you take the art out of the game it’s just boring.

I first played chess when I was 10 years old and my neighbor taught me how to play. I used to come home from school and play a game or tow before dinner and got hooked. I joined the school chess club and played each day. The fun was in the learning as much as getting good at the game. It was also a good lesson in learning how to lose and congratulate your opponent for their creativity and imagination. There were no computers then and so the game had a mystery about it. Sometimes we used to play for 8 moves or so and then flip the board so we could see how each of us was thinking. Not quite like Beth Harmon who on tranquilizers dreamed moves on the ceiling at night.

Chess serves as neat metaphor for Merleau-Ponty’s notion of perception. We all know that we are born into a particular context, history, culture and setting that whether we like it or not can not do much about. Our view of the world is conditioned, there is no objectivity. We learn, enquire, question and seek growth from this perception. This is why other people don’t think like you. It is from this worldview that we engage in the world and with others. Sometimes there are conversion points and people move and change worldviews but new worldview is simply where we feel more comfortable at the time.

Often when there are colliding worldviews not much is understood between the conflicting views because each worldview speaks a different language and has trouble imagining the way of the other. It’s hard to suspend agenda and flip the table. It can be done but it takes will and practice, usually through envisioning. Merleau-Ponty described this kind of envisioning as being present in the moment. Suspending one’s agenda doesn’t mean disposing of one’s worldview but rather closing off the usual noise of response one thinks about in conversation. This is what real listening is about. It’s a disposition not a Technique. One can always return to one’s comfort later once one has floated for a while in a learning presence.

Chess is a good way to learn this practicing of presence, stop thinking of what you want to do and focus on the other. Stop talking and telling and start listening. This is envisioning and skill worth developing if you want to better understand the Social Psychology of Risk (SPoR).

  • Bio
  • Latest Posts
  • More about Rob
Dr Rob Long

Dr Rob Long

Expert in Social Psychology, Principal & Trainer at Human Dymensions
Dr Rob Long

Latest posts by Dr Rob Long (see all)

  • How to Be Oriented Towards Psychosocial and Mental Health in Safety - February 2, 2023
  • Free Download – Real Risk – New Book by Dr Robert Long - February 2, 2023
  • ISO 45003 and What it Cannot Do - February 1, 2023
  • Harming People in the Name of Good - January 31, 2023
  • An Advanced Understanding of Culture – A Video - January 31, 2023
Dr Rob Long
PhD., MEd., MOH., BEd., BTh., Dip T., Dip Min., Cert IV TAA, MRMIA Rob is the founder of Human Dymensions and has extensive experience, qualifications and expertise across a range of sectors including government, education, corporate, industry and community sectors over 30 years. Rob has worked at all levels of the education and training sector including serving on various post graduate executive, post graduate supervision, post graduate course design and implementation programs.

Please share our posts

  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)

Related

Filed Under: Robert Long, Social Psychology of Risk Tagged With: chess, Envisioning Risk

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Bernard Corden says

    December 18, 2020 at 8:43 AM

    Dear Rob,

    It is a fascinating game that mirrors life but whoever designed the chess board picture wasn’t Ukrainian and has forgotten about white on right.

    Reply

Do you have any thoughts? Please share them below Cancel reply

Primary Sidebar

Search and Discover More on this Site

Never miss a post - Subscribe via Email

Enter your email address and join other discerning risk and safety people who receive notifications of new posts by email

Join 7,499 other subscribers

RECOMMENDED READING

viral post – iso 45003 and what it cannot do

Introduction to SPOR – FREE!!

Psychosocial Safety and Mental Health Series

Psychosocial Safety, Is it possible to make it culturally normal?

How to Be Oriented Towards Psychosocial and Mental Health in Safety

ISO 45003 and What it Cannot Do

The KISS of Death in Safety

Behavioural Safety is NOT a Foundation for Tackling Psychosocial and Mental Health

The Worst Approach to Psychosocial Problems is an Attitude of ‘Fixing’

The Language of ‘Hazards’ and Psychosocial, Mental Health

Welcome to the Nightmare, Safety Creates its Own Minefield (as usual)

No Good Reason to Follow Reason

The Moral Harm of the Zero Cult

More Posts from this Category

NEW! Free Download

Please take our 2 minute zero survey

Recent Comments

  • simon p cassin on Psychosocial Safety, Is it possible to make it culturally normal?
  • Hurak Learning on How to Be Oriented Towards Psychosocial and Mental Health in Safety
  • Rob Long on An Advanced Understanding of Culture – A Video
  • Paul Gentles on An Advanced Understanding of Culture – A Video
  • Brent Charlton on The KISS of Death in Safety
  • Rob Long on The KISS of Death in Safety
  • Brian Edwin Darlington on The KISS of Death in Safety
  • Brian on The Language of ‘Hazards’ and Psychosocial, Mental Health
  • Jaise on The Language of ‘Hazards’ and Psychosocial, Mental Health
  • Rob Long on Posture Myths and Holistic Ergonomics
  • Linda McKendry on Posture Myths and Holistic Ergonomics
  • Rob long on Welcome to the Nightmare, Safety Creates its Own Minefield (as usual)
  • Matt Thorne on Welcome to the Nightmare, Safety Creates its Own Minefield (as usual)
  • Anonymous on Welcome to the Nightmare, Safety Creates its Own Minefield (as usual)
  • Jason on How Bias Inhibits Learning in Safety
  • Rob Long on How Bias Inhibits Learning in Safety
  • Admin on How Bias Inhibits Learning in Safety
  • Rob Long on 400,000 Free Downloads
  • Gustavo Saralegui on 400,000 Free Downloads
  • Rob long on To Err is Human, You Better Believe It

FREE eBOOK DOWNLOADS

Footer

VIRAL POST – The Risk Matrix Myth

Top Posts & Pages. Sad that most are so dumb but this is what safety luves

  • 500 OF THE BEST AND WORST WORKPLACE HEALTH and SAFETY SLOGANS 2023
  • Proving Safety
  • Free Safety Moments and Toolbox Talk Examples, Tips and Resources
  • Road Safety Slogans 2023
  • CATCHY and FUNNY SAFETY SLOGANS FOR THE WORKPLACE
  • ISO 45003 and What it Cannot Do
  • Download Safety Moments from Human Resources Secretariat
  • NATIONAL SAFETY DAY/WEEK IN INDIA 2023
  • 15 Safety Precautions When Working With Electricity
  • How to Calculate TRIFR, LTIFR and Other Health and Safety Indicators

Recent Posts

  • Psychosocial Safety, Is it possible to make it culturally normal?
  • How to Be Oriented Towards Psychosocial and Mental Health in Safety
  • Free Download – Real Risk – New Book by Dr Robert Long
  • Proving Safety
  • ISO 45003 and What it Cannot Do
  • Harming People in the Name of Good
  • An Advanced Understanding of Culture – A Video
  • Risk and Safety Maturity
  • The KISS of Death in Safety
  • SPoR, Metanoia and a Podcast on Change with Nippin Anand
  • Behavioural Safety is NOT a Foundation for Tackling Psychosocial and Mental Health
  • The Worst Approach to Psychosocial Problems is an Attitude of ‘Fixing’
  • SPoR Comes to Vienna June 2023
  • The Language of ‘Hazards’ and Psychosocial, Mental Health
  • Welcome to the Nightmare, Safety Creates its Own Minefield (as usual)
  • The Visionary Imagination – Louisa Lawson
  • Heaven ‘n Hell and the Safety Religion
  • Confirmity in Conformity
  • Numerology and Psychic Numbing
  • Thinking of Mortality
  • Safety is the Wrong Anchor
  • Foresight Blindness, Hindsight Bias and Risk
  • Getting the Balance Right in Tackling Risk
  • What is SPoR?
  • How Bias Inhibits Learning in Safety
  • Afraid to Let Go of What Doesn’t Work in Safety
  • When You Don’t Know What to do in Safety, Have Another Blitz!!!
  • Gloves and Glasses Compliance
  • A Case of Desensitisation – What Would You Do?
  • How to Leave the Safety Industry
  • The Mythic Symbology of Safety
  • Dark Waters, The True Story of DuPont and Zero
  • 400,000 Free Downloads
  • Am I stupid? I didn’t think of that…
  • Don’t Look Now Safety, Your Metaphor is Showing
  • Ratio Delusions and Heinrich’s Hoax
  • To Err is Human, You Better Believe It
  • Culture as a Wicked Problem, for Safety
  • Safety Leadership Training
  • Cultural Orientation in Risk
  • The Stanford Experiment and The Social Psychology of Risk
  • Objectivity, Audits and Attribution When Calculating Risk
  • Records of safety activities: evidence of safety or non-compliance?
  • Zero, The Seeking of Infinity
  • Safety Leadership Essentials
  • What Can Indiana Jones Tell Us About Culture
  • Safety as a Worldview
  • The Loathing of Limits
  • Culture Cannot be Framed Through Safety
  • Free Online Workshops

VIRAL POST!!! HOW TO QUIT THE SAFETY INDUSTRY

FEATURED POSTS

The Conundrum in Discerning Risk

Coronavirus and the Dunny Paper Effect

WHS Research Symposium 2019

SPoR Body of Knowledge – A Video

It’s not weird – it’s a psychological safety initiative!

Look With Your Heart and Not With Your Eyes

What Can Safety Learn From Playschool?

Keep Your Head In the Game

Framing Your World

Safety Superstitions

Off to a Flying Start in Learning with CLLR

Risk as a ‘Leap of Faith’

Suicide Prevention – a Social Psychological Perspective

Subjecting and Objecting About Risk

Questioning Skills and Investigations

Selective Harm for Rio Tinto

The Worm at the Core

Safety Doesn’t Need Military Language

Right and Wrong in Safety

Sticks and Stones and the Nonsense of Zero Harm

Behaviourist Neuroscience as Safety

The Illusion Of Hazard Identification

Understanding Personality and Risk

Second Student Group Social Psychology of Risk

Zero as Morally Wicked

Risk Psychometrics, Spin and Snake Oil

Who Said We Don’t Need Systems?

Utopian Language and the Quest for Perfection in Safety

Even Safety Is Fallible

Safety and the Spin of Disruption

Flooding is Dangerous, and I don’t Mean the Water….

The Village Effect

London Workshops 24-28 October

Reflections of a ‘Doer’

Mental Health, Risk and Safety

Holistic Well Being in Risk Differently

Natural Born Learners

Centre for Leadership and Learning in Risk (CLLR)–Study Calendar

Don’t Make Safety a Habit

200,000 SPoR Book Downloads

More Posts from this Category

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address and join other discerning risk and safety people who receive notifications of new posts by email

Join 7,499 other subscribers

How we pay for the high cost of running of this site – try it for free on your site

WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETY?

What is Psychological Safety at Work?


WHAT IS PSYCHOSOCIAL SAFETY