What are the 7 rungs of the perception and reality ladder?

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Ladder of Inference: this article explains the Ladder of Inference by Chris Argyris and Peter Senge in a practical way. After reading it, you will understand the basics of this powerful Decision Making tool.

What is the Ladder of Inference?

People are often lead by jumping to conclusions. These can be correct, but also wrong conclusions and can lead to conflicts with other people. The Ladder of Inference can help you to no longer jump to premature conclusions and to reason on the basis of facts.

Who came up with the ladder of Inference?

This so-called Ladder of Inference was developed by the American Chris Argyris, a former professor at Harvard Business School, in 1970.

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In 1992, The Ladder of Inference became popular after being described in the bestseller The fifth discipline, which Argyris wrote in collaboration with the American scientist Peter M. Senge.

Ladder of Inference vs. Unconscious

The Ladder of Inference provides insight into the mental processes that occur within the human brain.

It describes the perception starting from senses to the series of mental steps that need to be taken to work towards an action. This human thought process only takes a fraction of a second. That is why people do not realise how they developed a certain action or response; it is done unconsciously.

The Ladder of Inference shows how mental models are formed unconsciously. They determine what and how you see and how your thought process and behaviour is led. Every person gives meaning to observations and bases their actions on them.

Ladder of Inference model

The Ladder of Inference consists of seven rungs or steps and the reasoning process starts at the bottom of the ladder.

People select facts from events, which they translate from prior experiences. These interpreted facts form the basis for assumptions, which in turn lead to certain conclusions. Then a person proceeds to (inter)act. All the rungs of the ladder are described below, starting from the bottom level:

1. Reality and facts

This level identifies what is directly perceptible. You observe all information and data from the real world and pay attention. Observable data is the most important factor in this step.

2. Selecting facts

From this level, we select data and facts based on convictions and prior experiences. The frame of reference plays a role in this.

3. Interpreting facts

The facts and data are interpreted and given a personal meaning.

4. Assumptions

At this level, assumptions are made based on the meaning you give to your observations. These assumptions are personal and are different for every individual.

5. Conclusions

At this level, conclusions are drawn based on prior beliefs. Avoid jumping to conclusions in previous steps.

6. Beliefs

At this level, conclusions are drawn based on interpreted facts and prior assumptions, also called existing beliefs.

7. Actions

This is the highest level. Finally we take action based on prior beliefs and conclusions. The actions that are taken seem to be the best at that particular moment.

Ladder of Inference: vicious circle

The processes in The Ladder of Inference often occur unconsciously and in less than a second in the human brain. They happen imperceptibly fast. All the convictions that someone forms influence the next time a situation is perceived. The process continues to repeat itself, and creates a vicious circle, or reflexive loop.

All of the conclusions reinforce the prior beliefs, which in turn influence the selection of facts. This can lead us to ignore certain facts altogether and jump to conclusions.

The Ladder of Inference teaches you to take a few steps back in the reasoning process, allowing you to remain objective and not to immediately jump to conclusions.

How can you use the Ladder of inference to help you deal with unconscious bias?

Using The Ladder of Inference teaches you to look at facts unbiased and not to judge too soon. It is a way to use your own convictions and experiences in a positive manner. The Ladder of Inference can be used in the three following ways:

1. Becoming aware of your own thoughts and reasoning.
2. Make clear to others how your own reasoning process works. This will allow others to have a better understanding of someone’s motives.
3. Research the thought process of other people, by actively asking them about it.

The Ladder of Inference can be used in every stage of the thought process. Anyone can train him/ herself to do so by for example asking the following questions:

• Am I drawing the right conclusion?
• Why did I assume this?
• Is my conclusion based on facts?
• Why do I think this is the right thing to do?
• Can I do this in a different way?

It is also useful to identify the level of the ladder you are currently on. Sometimes it is smart to go back to a lower step. By asking yourself what you are thinking and why at each step, you will be able to analyse each step and no longer jump to premature conclusions.

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It’s Your Turn

What do you think? Have you ever heard of the different steps within the Ladder of Inference? Do you understand how the ladder works and  do you recognize the practical explanation or do you have more suggestions? What are your success factors for good decision making?

Share your experience and knowledge in the comments box below.

More information

1. Argyris, C. (1982). The executive mind and double-loop learning. Organizational dynamics, 11(2), 5-22.
2. Senge, P. M. (2014). The fifth discipline fieldbook: Strategies and tools for building a learning organization. Crown Business.
3. Tompkins, T. C. & Rhodes, K. (2012). Groupthink and the ladder of inference: Increasing effective decision making. The Journal of Human Resource and Adult Learning, 8(2), 84.

How to cite this article:
Mulder, P. (2018). Ladder of Inference (Argyris & Senge). Retrieved [insert date] from Toolshero: https://www.toolshero.com/decision-making/ladder-of-inference/

Published on: 04/12/2018 | Last update: 07/18/2022

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Imagine a situation in which you’ve found yourself perplexed by how someone else has interpreted something you did or said in a manner that you never intended. Or maybe you got offended by someone’s action or comment and concluded that they must be acting against you for some reason. Such situations indicate that you’re climbing the ladder of inference.

First introduced by Chris Argyris, way back in 1970, the ladder of inference is a way of explaining how you move from a piece of data, through a series of mental processes to a conclusion.

This theory of the ladder of inference is an important tool in the topic of organisational development. So, let’s ponder over this process of the ladder of inference and its exercises in this post.

What does the ladder of inference mean?

The Ladder of Inference is a specific model of the steps that are used to make sense of situations before acting on them. It allows us to consider what we’re thinking and to coordinate our thinking with others.

How we act relies on how we understand the situation we are in. Our understanding may seem obvious to us as if they were prompted by the situation itself. But other people can arrive at very different conclusions, based on what aspects of the situation they notice and how they interpret what’s going on. 

Understanding the theory of the ladder of inference

The Ladder of Inference describes the thinking process that individuals go through. This generally happens without any realisation. In this case, the individuals move from a fact to a decision or action. This concept can be represented as a ladder, and the steps are explained from the bottom to gradually moving up.

At the bottom of the ladder, you have reality and facts. Listed below are the subsequent steps in which the theory unfolds.

• Experience reality based on our beliefs.
• Determine what they mean.
• Use your existing assumptions, often without considering them.
• Arrive at conclusions depending on the interpreted facts and your assumptions.
• Develop your beliefs, depending on these conclusions.
• Take specific actions that come across "right" because they’re based on what we believe.

This may create a vicious circle. Your beliefs have an impact on how we select from reality and can result in you ignoring the true facts altogether. Soon you’re literally jumping to conclusions by missing facts and skipping steps in the process of reasoning.

By adopting the Ladder of Inference, you can look back on the facts and utilise your beliefs and experiences to positive effect. Instead of letting these details narrow your field of judgment. Following this process of reasoning can enable you to have better results, steeped in reality, thus avoiding unnecessary mistakes and conflict.

Breaking down the rungs of the ladder of inference with examples

Now let’s address, the pertinent question, What are the specific steps of the ladder of inference? While studying the theory, you’ll notice that the ladder of inference framework is set up in several different ways, and it involves breaking down the ladder into the following seven rungs.

Step #1: Observe the data

There are facts and reality all around you, and the initial step in the ladder of inference is to observe that detail.

Example: Mark’s employee reaches office half an hour late, looking utterly frustrated, and on his way to his desk, thanks the receptionist for taking his call.

Step #2: Select the data

The thing is it’s not too often that we use all available facts and reality to make decisions. We have the tendency to decide on a particular piece of information, or perhaps even cherry-pick some of those details according to our preferences or agenda.

Example: Mark’s employee shows up half an hour late.

Step #3: Give meaning to the data

Next, you need to assign a proper meaning to that information depending on our own past experiences, biases, and beliefs.

Example: Now, suppose Mark struggled with a previous employee who had little respect for being on time.

Step #4: Come up with interpretations depending on the meaning

When you assign meaning to that data, that allows you to make assumptions. This means you may ignore all other realities and facts and arrive at conclusions about what’s happening.

Example: Mark's current employee came late to the office because he also doesn’t take schedules seriously.

Step #5: Draw specific conclusions

From there, you transform your own assumptions into firm conclusions; again, without acknowledging all of the facts and realities you could’ve been considered at the very beginning.

Example: Mark’s current employee needs to be reminded that they must be present at work on time. Otherwise, this will snowball into an even bigger problem for Mark.

Step #6: Adopt beliefs depending on conclusions

Based on those conclusions you arrived at, you adopt beliefs about the situation. And then, you use those beliefs and experiences to make future judgments about similar issues.

Examples: Any employee who comes late to the office late has no regard for time and authorities and needs to be dealt with accordingly.

Step #7: Take action

With all of these steps in mind, you take action. But again, you’re operating depending on our own assumptions, instead of considering the facts.

Example: Mark sends an email to all his employees on the importance of timeliness.

Between the second step (selecting data) and the sixth one (adopt beliefs), there’s something known as the reflexive loop. This indicates that the beliefs we develop will affect what data we choose the next time we’re in a similar situation.

For instance, as Mark had a negative experience with a previous employee who was never on time, he’s now cautious about tardiness. And he tends to only pick up on the select data of their arrival time and nothing else.

Parting thoughts,

This detailed breakdown will simplify the ladder of inference for you. This way, you won't have any issue preparing an academic paper on this theory.

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