Social Perspective Taking and Shared Mental Model Training for Teamwork Crossing Disciplines

Interdisciplinary teams play a central role in solving complex scientific and operational problems, yet they frequently struggle to collaborate effectively despite high levels of technical expertise. These breakdowns often stem not only from knowledge gaps but also from difficulties interpreting collaborators’ assumptions, reasoning processes, and disciplinary perspectives. Although research on shared mental models emphasizes the importance of aligned team knowledge structures, the social-cognitive mechanisms that enable such alignment remain poorly specified. This paper argues that social perspective taking (SPT) is a foundational but under examined process linking individual understanding to team cognition. We bring together concepts from across multiple disciplines to propose a multilevel framework that reconceptualizes perspective taking as an emergent team process shaped by contextual conditions, motivational and feedback mechanisms, and interactional practices.