2016

Fox, Stephen; Vahala, Päivi

Preconceptions have been defined as being ideas formed in advance before one can possibly know or form a reliable opinion. The limiting influence of preconceptions is summarized in a variety of phrases such as: to a hammer, everything looks like a nail; we do not see things as they are, we see them as we are; believing is seeing. Preconceptions can lead to people seeing a wide variety of many new situations as being much the same as a few old situations. As a result, people can continually make recurring judgements about new situations that they per-ceive to be the same as old situations. In this publication, resources are provided for "dismantling the box" of preconceptions. All of these have been developed in accordance with findings and theories from scientific research. In addition, they have been field trialled successfully.