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Negative Space; Understanding What You CAN'T See

October 6, 2026 · 1 h 8 min

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You rarely get the whole picture before you have to make a decision. So how do you make sense of what you can’t see without filling in the blanks with a story that’s wrong?

In this episode of The Human Behavior Podcast, Brian Marren and Greg Williams explore negative space: how the information surrounding what we can observe helps us understand what we can’t. From a traffic stop to a parent-teacher conversation to pulling into an unfamiliar gas station, they discuss how context and relationships give individual observations meaning.

The conversation connects negative space to building and testing an explanatory storyline. What do you know? What can you reasonably infer? And if your explanation is accurate, what should happen next? Each question helps you check your understanding and recognize when it needs to change.

Throughout the episode, Brian and Greg return to one question: What does the surrounding information allow us to explain, and what are we still assuming?

A practical discussion about seeing more, questioning your first explanation, and making better decisions with an incomplete picture.

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Website: https://www.arcadiacognerati.com/podcast

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Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ArcadiaCognerati

More about Greg and Brian: https://arcadiacognerati.com/arcadia-cognerati-leadership-team/

All episodes of The Human Behavior Podcast

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