Forthcoming nonfiction book project
From Own Eyes to Other Minds
A forthcoming book on how explanations of behavior form under conditions of informational asymmetry.
We experience our own actions from the inside but encounter other people mainly through what they do. This difference in informational access quietly shapes how we interpret one another.
From Own Eyes to Other Minds examines how explanations of behavior form under these conditions, how interpretations narrow as they develop, and how misunderstandings emerge in everyday interaction.
Conceptual visual
Inside vs Outside
Inside Experience
- — intentions
- — pressures
- — trade-offs
- — situational awareness
How we explain our own action
“I acted that way because…”
Outside Observation
- — actions
- — words
- — timing
- — visible patterns
How we explain another person’s action
“They acted that way because…”
The same behavior can produce different explanations depending on the information available to the interpreter.
Core idea
A Simple Asymmetry
Everyday interpretation begins from a basic difference in informational access.
We experience our own actions from the inside.
We encounter other people mainly through what they do.
Because interpretation begins from these different informational positions, explanations of the same behavior often diverge. What looks like direct understanding is often reconstruction from very different kinds of evidence.
Book scope
What This Book Explores
Human beings constantly interpret one another. We explain why someone acted as they did, what they intended, and what their behavior reveals about them.
These explanations often feel immediate, almost like perception. Yet they do not begin from equal informational positions. We encounter our own actions through lived experience, while encountering others primarily through observable signals and fragments of context.
Because interpretation begins from these different informational positions, explanations of behavior often diverge.
The book develops a framework for understanding how these interpretations form, how they evolve, and how they sometimes narrow into confident but incomplete explanations.
Explanatory divergence
Why We Misinterpret Each Other
People routinely explain the same event in different ways depending on their informational position.
When explaining our own actions, we usually begin with
- — intentions
- — constraints
- — competing pressures
- — incomplete information
When explaining another person’s actions, we more often rely on
- — patterns of behavior
- — visible outcomes
- — inferred incentives
- — apparent character or traits
These differences are not simply personal quirks or isolated biases. They arise from a structural asymmetry in informational access between inside and outside perspectives.
Core models
The Framework at a Glance
The book develops a structural framework for understanding how explanations of behavior form under conditions of asymmetric informational access.
The framework rests on two complementary models: the Interpretation Grid, which maps where explanations begin, and the Distortion Funnel, which describes how interpretations narrow as explanation unfolds.
The Interpretation Grid
The grid maps the positions from which explanations begin. It shows how informational position and explanatory mode combine to shape interpretation.
The Distortion Funnel
The funnel describes how interpretation starts with limited information and gradually narrows into a more settled explanation as some determinants become central and others disappear from view.
Together these models provide a structural account of how explanations of behavior form, evolve, and sometimes misfire.
Model one
The Interpretation Grid
The Interpretation Grid maps how explanations depend on two basic dimensions.
Informational position
Whether an action is interpreted from the inside (self) or from the outside (another person).
Explanatory mode
Whether behavior is explained through mind (intentions, thoughts, lived experience) or through rule (patterns, traits, incentives).
Two of these positions arise naturally from informational asymmetry. We tend to interpret our own actions through lived experience while interpreting another person through visible patterns of behavior.
The remaining positions require deliberate shifts in perspective, such as examining our own behavior across situations or attempting to reconstruct the determinants behind another person’s action.
The grid makes visible a structure that normally operates implicitly in everyday judgment.
Model two
The Distortion Funnel
While the grid maps where explanations begin, the Distortion Funnel describes how interpretations evolve once explanation is underway.
Interpretation starts with a limited field of accessible information. From that starting point, people search for explanations, weigh possible determinants, and gradually narrow the range of plausible accounts.
As explanations develop, some determinants become central while others disappear from view. Because informational access is uneven, interpretations can come to feel complete even when important influences remain unseen.
Complex situations may therefore become compressed into simplified explanations of intention, character, or motive.
Consequences
Why It Matters
The consequences of informational asymmetry extend far beyond isolated misunderstandings.
Personal relationships
Two people may experience the same interaction yet leave with incompatible but internally coherent explanations of what occurred.
Organizations
Institutions and individuals often interpret one another through different informational lenses, producing persistent misunderstanding when each side sees its own constraints clearly but observes only outcomes in others.
Public life
Disagreement increasingly interprets behavior as evidence of ideology or character rather than as a response to situational constraint.
Understanding the structure of interpretation helps explain why these conflicts arise and why they persist.
Intellectual payoff
What the Framework Makes Visible
- when explanation begins from inside experience and when it begins from outside observation
- how mind-mode and rule-mode shape interpretation
- why explanations narrow as they develop
- how misinterpretation escalates in interaction
- how behavior can be reconstructed through determinants rather than single causes
- how interpretation can remain open under incomplete information
The aim is not to eliminate disagreement. It is to make the structure of interpretation more visible.
Project status
About the Project
From Own Eyes to Other Minds is a book currently in development. This site presents the conceptual framework behind the project and introduces the ideas explored in the manuscript.
The project includes:
- — the forthcoming book
- — essays expanding the framework
- — visual models of interpretation
- — future talks and publications related to the project
Updates about the book and related work will appear here as the project develops.
Author
About the Author
Joel Vuolevi writes at the intersection of psychology, philosophy, and systems thinking. His work examines how informational asymmetry shapes judgment, disagreement, and explanation.
From Own Eyes to Other Minds develops a structural account of how people interpret one another under conditions of incomplete information.
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