It is possible to argue that getting feedback from other people is useful because it gives a perspective that would not, otherwise, be available to us. There are many different theories that suggest there are aspects of ourselves of which we are only dimly aware. You may well have heard of Sigmund Freud?s idea that our minds are made up of both conscious and unconscious elements. Freud argued that the working of the unconscious part of the mind is almost impossible to access. However, these hidden aspects might contain some useful information that would be valuable for personal development. The idea of using feedback builds on the notion that other people, because they have a different perspective, can help us out with information that would be difficult to gather if we worked alone. This idea has been extended and is the basis of what is known as 360 degree feedback. This is used in work contexts to give someone as wide a picture as possible about how well they are doing.
It involves having feedback from everyone whose views are seen as being helpful and relevant.
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