Structured Design Dialog Process (SDDP), as defined by Schreibman and Christakis, is the new geometry of languaging and new technology of democracy, “designed to overcome the propensity toward Spreadthink, Groupthink, and the ‘Erroneous Priorities Effect’ and to facilitate meaningful group dialogue that enhances the pursuit of community wisdom and power” (Schreibman & Christakis).
The term ‘Spreadthink’, as coined by Dr. John N. Warfield, is to describe the outcome of group dialogue that is infected with inherent human constraints: 1) The lack of a common language that facilitates members ‘s engaging in genuine dialogue, thus as a result, members talk in parallel or talk past each other instead of conversing. 2) The limited short-term ability to process information upon the multiple dimensions of reality affecting any complex issue, thus as a result, lead to information overload and 3) Different value systems which are deeply socialized during childhood or in the place they live and work. With Spreadthink situation, the views of individual members are literally all over the map. ‘Groupthink’, another term coined by Dr. Warfield, is a majority view of a group consensus that is arrived under pressure from a strong minority. Groupthink is the result of the deterioration of mental efficiency, quality of reality testing, and quality of moral judgment that results from in-group pressures. It lacks individual support and, usually lacks substance. ‘Erroneous Priorities Effect’ problem is the outcome where discrepancies between words and actions are found.
For the Aquaculture project SDDP is used to facilitate true, meaningful dialog that guides decision making process. Researchers and community organizers will get together and each will generate a list of intentions. The team then will choose a set of 12 intentions that received the most votes. A strategic method such as Delphi method can be utilized in order to explore the influences among the 12 chosen intentions. The influences then will be arranged with the most influential ones at the base. This influence tree pattern is called a ‘tree of meaning’ by Dr. Christakis. The tree of meaning is the result of the co-laboratory of Democracy process. While working in the democracy process, always keep in mind the following 6 dialogue laws are used to promote meaning and wisdom in dialogue:
1. Appreciation of the diversity of perspectives of observers is essential to embrace the many dimensions of a complex situation.
2. Disciplined dialogue is required so that observers are not subjected to information overloaded.
3. The relative importance of an observer's ideas can be understood only when they are compared with others in the group.
4. Meaning and wisdom of an observer's ideas are produced in a dialogue only when they begin to understand the relationships such as similarity, priority, influence, etc., of different people's ideas.
5. Every person matters, so it is necessary to protect the autonomy and authenticity of each observer in drawing distinctions.
6. Evolutionary learning occurs in a dialogue as the observers learn how their ideas relate to one another.
Dr. Warfield (1925 – November 17, 2009) was an Americansystems scientist, who was professor and director of the Institute for Advanced Study in the Integrative Sciences (IASIS) at George Mason University.
Dr. Christakis is the founder of the international non-profit Institute for 21st Century Agoras (GLOBAL AGORAS) and past-president of the International Society of Systems Sciences. You can find one of the newest interviews with him here:
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