Ability to understand others and their values, in order to make a decision (…) less tainted by personal values.
Source: Louise Lafortune, Pédagogie et psychologie des émotions, p.66, citing Paul, 1982, then Guilbert, 1999.
The ability to decentralize is one of the essential capabilities of critical thinking and peacemaking skills.
See also the definition of distancing.
The term decentralization comes from the writings of Jean Piaget, a psychology professor with a particular interest in child development.
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“Mechanism that enables the individual or collective subject to escape any form of distorting subjectivity, because it is egocentric or sociocentric, in order to achieve various forms of objectivity in its relationship to the world or to others.”
Source: Fondation Jean Piaget, website, Notions section.
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“Process leading from egocentrism and phenomenism to objectivity, from the individual subject (distorting subjectivity) to the epistemic subject (structuring activity). This decentration of the subject takes place in relation to its own perspective, in relation to its own point of view (egocentrism) and in relation to the most immediate appearances of objects (phenomenism).”
Source: Adapted from M.-F. Legendre, Fondation Jean Piaget, Piaget et l’épistémologie.