How are MirrorTalk scores and feedback generated?

MirrorTalk uses frameworks and theories from leading educational and developmental experts to generates scores and feedback on the Dashboard.

Understanding

Swivl used Jean Piaget’s Constructivism Theory and Robert Kegan’s Subject-Object theory to build the Understanding score.

MirrorTalk's Understanding Score begins at 51% to acknowledging that all learners start with some understanding while encouraging continued engagement and improvement.

Score	Meaning
51-70%	The learner attempts to engage with the learning experience, but it is vague, incomplete, or loosely connected to the learning objective. Limited recall, minimal meaning-building, and few or no clear insights are evident.
71-80%	The learner includes 1-2 specific details from the learning experience with some connection to the objective. There are attempts to build meaning and generate insights, though these may be incomplete or loosely connected.
81-90%	The learner provides 2 or more specific details, builds meaning from the experience, and makes at least one clear connection to the learning objective. An insight or intellectual shift is evident and connected to the experience.
91-100%	The learner comprehensively recalls multiple significant details, builds strong meaning, and makes multiple relevant connections to the learning objective. Profound insights or intellectual shifts demonstrate exceptional understanding and development.

Zone

Swivl used the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) and Yerkes-Dodson Law to build the Zone score.

Score	Meaning
Below	Activities are not challenging enough, or the learner is notably disengaged. The learner needs more demanding tasks or increased motivation to fully engage with the material. This zone may result in boredom or lack of progress.
Ideal	Activities are appropriately challenging and supportive for the learner's current level. Learners are engaged and capable of their best learning and productivity. This zone promotes growth and optimal learning experiences.
Above	Activities are excessively challenging, or the learner is overly stressed or anxious. The learner needs additional support, scaffolding, or stress management to effectively engage with the material. This zone may lead to frustration or overwhelm if not addressed.

Mindset

Swivl used Carol Dweck’s work on mindset to build the Mindset score.

Score	Meaning
Fixed	Demonstrates a fixed mindset, negative attitudes towards learning and challenges
Neutral	Shows a mix of fixed and growth mindset characteristics
Growth	Demonstrates a strong growth mindset, positive attitudes towards learning and challenges
Above	Overly positive attitude that may inhibit realistic self-assessment and learning

Tone

Swivl used Carol Dweck’s work about how one speaks influences the learning process to build the Tone score.

Score	Meaning
Negative	Uses language indicating frustration, disengagement, or pessimism
Neutral	Uses balanced language without strong positive or negative sentiment
Positive	Uses language indicating enthusiasm, engagement, and optimism
Above	Uses language indicating excessive positivity, in cases like sarcasm, superficiality, or delusion.

Hidden Lesson

Swivl used Robert Kegan’s Levels of Consciousness and Subject-Object Theories to build the Hidden Lesson data point.

• MirrorTalk analyzes the learner's grade level and reflection to estimate their current developmental stage (Order of Mind). It then identifies key challenges and growth opportunities relevant to their stage and the experience they're reflecting on.
• Based on this analysis, MirrorTalk provides a key insight to help the learner navigate their current developmental stage and progress towards the next stage at an appropriate pace.
• Hidden Lessons highlight important aspects of the learner's Understanding, Mindset, and Zone, connecting these to their developmental stage and offering guidance on how to apply and benefit from these lessons.

Order of Mind

Swivl used Robert Kegan’s Levels of Consciousness to build the Order of Mind data point.

Order of Mind	Meaning
Impulsive Mind	The learner is controlled by their impulses and perceptions, with little ability to control reflexes or construct a persistent reality
Instrumental Mind	The learner can classify and generalize, control impulses to some degree, but is primarily self-centered and unable to consider others' perspectives fully
Socialized Mind	The learner can internalize and operate within societal norms, consider others' feelings, and be part of something larger than themselves
Self-Authoring Mind	The learner can take perspective on relationships and societal expectations, create their own ideologies, and mediate between their own and others' expectations
Self-Transforming Mind	The learner can see beyond their own ideology, recognize the limits of their own inner system, and understand the fluidity and interdependence of systems

Cognitive Bias

While there are dozens of cognitive biases with generally agreed upon definitions, Swivl identified and used the cognitive biases that are most likely to appear in spoken reflections.

- Action Bias: The preference for action over inaction, even when doing nothing is better.
- Affect Heuristic: Judging decisions based on emotions rather than objective evaluation.
- Ambiguity Effect: Avoiding options with uncertain outcomes in favor of those with known probabilities.
- Anchoring Bias: Relying too heavily on the first piece of information encountered.
- Attentional Bias: Focusing on certain stimuli while ignoring others based on emotions or expectations.
- Authority Bias: Placing undue trust in authority figures or experts.
- Availability Heuristic: Judging likelihood based on how easily examples come to mind.
- Bandwagon Effect: Adopting beliefs or behaviors because they are popular or widespread.
- Barnum Effect: Accepting vague statements as personally meaningful.
- Base Rate Fallacy: Ignoring statistical base rates in favor of specific anecdotal information.
- Belief Perseverance (The Backfire Effect): Strengthening beliefs when faced with contradicting evidence.
- Benjamin Franklin Effect: Increasing favorability toward someone after doing them a favor.
- Bikeshedding: Overemphasizing trivial details instead of focusing on important aspects.
- Bounded Rationality: Making decisions within the limitations of available information and cognitive resources.
- Choice Overload: Feeling overwhelmed by too many options, leading to decision fatigue or avoidance.
- Cognitive Dissonance: Discomfort from holding contradictory beliefs or behaviors, leading to justification.
- Commitment Bias: Persisting in a course of action due to prior commitments, even if irrational.
- Confirmation Bias: Seeking and interpreting information to confirm existing beliefs.
- Decision Fatigue: Declining quality of decisions after prolonged decision-making efforts.
- Declinism: Belief that society or institutions are in decline despite evidence.
- Decoy Effect: Introducing a third option to make one of the original options more appealing.
- Distinction Bias: Overemphasizing differences when comparing options side by side.
- Dunning–Kruger Effect: Overestimating one’s abilities due to a lack of self-awareness or skill.
- Einstellung Effect: Relying on familiar solutions even when better options exist.
- Empathy Gap: Underestimating the impact of emotions on decisions and behaviors.
- Endowment Effect: Overvaluing things simply because they are owned.
- Extrinsic Incentive Bias: Overestimating the role of external rewards in others' motivation.
- False Consensus Effect: Overestimating the degree to which others share one’s beliefs or behaviors.
- Framing Effect: Decisions influenced by how information is presented rather than its content.
- Functional Fixedness: Viewing objects or ideas in their conventional uses only.
- Fundamental Attribution Error: Overemphasizing personality traits and underestimating situational factors in others' actions.
- Gambler's Fallacy: Believing that past random events affect future probabilities.
- Halo Effect: Generalizing positive impressions of one trait to other unrelated traits.
- Hard-easy Effect: Overconfidence in easy tasks and underconfidence in hard ones.
- Heuristics: Mental shortcuts that simplify decision-making but can lead to biases.
- Hindsight Bias: Believing an event was predictable after it has occurred.
- Hyperbolic Discounting: Preferring smaller, immediate rewards over larger, future rewards.
- Identifiable Victim Effect: Greater empathy for specific individuals than for groups.
- Illusion of Control: Overestimating one’s ability to control external events.
- Illusion of Transparency: Overestimating how much others understand one’s thoughts or feelings.
- Illusion of Validity: Overconfidence in judgments based on perceived patterns.
- Illusory Correlation: Perceiving relationships between unrelated events.
- Illusory Truth Effect: Believing false information because it is repeated often.
- Impact Bias: Overestimating the intensity or duration of future emotions.
- In-group Bias: Favoring one’s own group over others.
- Incentivization: Being influenced by external rewards or punishments.
- Lag Effect: Improved memory from spaced repetition.
- Law of the Instrument: Over-reliance on familiar tools or approaches.
- Leveling and Sharpening: Simplifying details or emphasizing certain aspects in memory.
- Levels of Processing: Better recall for information processed more deeply.
- Loss Aversion: Preferring to avoid losses over acquiring equivalent gains.
- Mental Accounting: Treating money differently depending on its source or use.
- Mere Exposure Effect: Liking something more due to repeated exposure.
- Motivating Uncertainty Effect: Uncertainty about rewards increasing motivation.
- Naive Allocation: Equal distribution of resources without regard to effectiveness.
- Naive Realism: Believing one’s view of reality is the only accurate one.
- Negativity Bias: Focusing more on negative information than positive.
- Noble Edge Effect: Overvaluing actions perceived as ethical or virtuous.
- Normalcy Bias: Underestimating the likelihood of unusual or disastrous events.
- Nostalgia Effect: Preference for ideas or products associated with the past.
- Observer Expectancy Effect: Influence of a researcher’s expectations on participants.
- Omission Bias: Judging harmful actions as worse than harmful inactions.
- Optimism Bias: Overestimating the likelihood of positive outcomes for oneself.
- Ostrich Effect: Ignoring negative information by avoiding it.
- Overjustification Effect: Losing intrinsic motivation when extrinsic rewards are introduced.
- Peak-end Rule: Judging experiences based on their most intense and final moments.
- Pessimism Bias: Overestimating the likelihood of negative outcomes.
- Planning Fallacy: Underestimating the time or resources needed to complete tasks.
- Pluralistic Ignorance: Believing one’s beliefs differ from the group despite evidence otherwise.
- Primacy Effect: Remembering information presented at the beginning better than later information.
- Priming: Exposure to one stimulus influencing responses to subsequent stimuli.
- Projection Bias: Assuming others share one’s current feelings or beliefs.
- Reactive Devaluation: Devaluing proposals because they come from an adversary.
- Recency Effect: Remembering the last items in a series better than earlier ones.
- Regret Aversion: Avoiding decisions to prevent future regret.
- Representativeness Heuristic: Judging probabilities based on resemblance to a prototype.
- Response Bias: Answering questions in a way influenced by external expectations.
- Restraint Bias: Overestimating one’s ability to control impulses.
- Rosy Retrospection: Remembering past events as better than they were.
- Salience Bias: Focusing on the most noticeable aspects of a situation.
- Self-serving Bias: Attributing successes to oneself and failures to external factors.
- Serial Position Effect: Better recall for the first and last items in a sequence.
- Social Norms: Behaviors shaped by societal expectations.
- Source Confusion: Misremembering the origin of information.
- Spacing Effect: Improved learning with spaced repetition.
- Spotlight Effect: Overestimating how much others notice you.
- Status Quo Bias: Preferring things to remain the same.
- Suggestibility: Being influenced by external suggestions.
- Survivorship Bias: Focusing on successful outcomes and ignoring failures.
- The Illusion of Explanatory Depth: Believing one understands something better than they do.
- The Pygmalion Effect: Expectations influencing performance outcomes.
- The Sunk Cost Fallacy: Persisting in a decision based on prior investment.
- Zero Risk Bias: Preferring options that eliminate risks entirely.