Herbmione Granger Feb 28, 2018:

"Ask 'silly' questions" might work as a heading. Unexpected and innocuous (pulled from Ramey's answer).

https://sarsteiner.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/skriptum-basi...
Dieser Klärungsprozess sollte ausführlich sein, damit Hintergründe zu Motiven, Erleben, Gefühlen und Handlungen wirklich verstanden werden und die ersten Hypothesen nicht auf bloßen Vermutungen beruhen. Insofern kann der Therapeut durchaus „dumm“ im Sinne von „marsisch“ fragen.

Björn Vrooman Feb 28, 2018:

@Kevin Thanks for the feedback. Not to go for overkill here, but maybe you want to think about the use of "extraterrestrial being" in place of "alien," or turn it into an adjective, e.g. "alien visitor/being."

It could be my frequent visits to blogs on US politics, but "alien" as a noun is a term best avoided these days--unless you're a SciFi author.

Have a look at "Be Your Own Strategy Consultant: Demystifying Strategic Thinking" by Tony Grundy and Laura Brown on GoogleBooks. You'll find your "alien" in there.

Best

Kevin John Purkiss (asker) Feb 28, 2018:

Thanks for the input - we had researched all the routes and links but there does not appear to be a 'training' term commonly used.
After talking this through with the Client - the suggestion from Ramey was chosed as most appropriate. We decided on:
"Ask questions as if you were an alien (unexpected or unpredictable questions)"

Lancashireman Feb 28, 2018:

Here's another one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cv6tuzHUuuk

Lancashireman Feb 27, 2018:

Robert de Niro's waiting, talking Italian https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3gSyO3Uz5U

Herbmione Granger Feb 27, 2018:

I hadn't seen this reference when I came up with my answer. I based it off of Michael's reference.

Perhaps the meaning of marsisiche Fragen here needs to be clarified by Kevin's client.

Björn Vrooman Feb 27, 2018:

I've seen this reference... ...but I thought the description was a bit unfortunate.

Others:
https://www.sibewa.ch/taweltkarte/pdf/TA und Maerchen.pdf
http://blog.kitaktiv.de/?p=25

Whether choosing "open" or "open-en(ed)," the point I didn't agree with was "loaded." It's about innocence and inquisitiveness, free from social constraints. It's less about being non-judgmental or not being permitted to ask leading questions but more about basically forgetting all that you've been taught--a childlike quality. That's why Michael's and Kim's reference says, "Bei kleinen Kindern ist diese Fähigkeit besonders vorhanden..."

RE "Martian question":
1) Searching for this will produce a lot of false positives.
2) If you remove all those that point to the words just showing up next to each other, there will still be a lot of false positives(!). Like this here:
https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Old Martian questions may hav...
3) If you remove those with a reference to the planet Mars only and add psychology, there will, again, be false positives(!!):
http://www.businessinsider.com/the-martian-psychology-2015-9...

Nothing to do with intelligence, Phil. Not one iota.

Herbmione Granger Feb 27, 2018:

Definition? http://institut-asta.ch/referenzen/
„Marsische Fragen“ zu stellen ist ein wichtiges Instrument der TA. Das heisst: Keine Interpretationen, keine manipulativ oder gar negativ behafteten Fragen zu stellen. Es scheint mir sehr wichtig, darauf sensibilisiert zu sein. Dies war ein wichtiger Bestandteil dieser Fortbildung.

Ramey Rieger (X) Feb 27, 2018:

Yes. I took another tack in my suggestion, assuming the bullet point should remain a bullet point and not ferment.

Björn Vrooman Feb 27, 2018:

I provided two links discussing this in detail. Just no reference to Martians. As you said yourself, "Would the English-speaking trainer know what is meant?" I think not. Moreover, I agreed with you that the adjective sounds out of place here. I'd have expected something such as "Ask questions [only] a Martian would" or similar. I'm not fond of "like a Martian"; do you know for sure Martians don't ask other Martians questions by first snapping their fingers twice and doing the rainbow dance?

Best

Ramey Rieger (X) Feb 27, 2018:

Hi Björn! I am fully aware of what is meant, I read the links and am familiar with transactional analysis. Although one German author goes so far to call this marsisches Denken, Eric Berne simply explains it by asking his reader to imagine she is a Martian. My issue is with the English rendition.

Björn Vrooman Feb 27, 2018:

It's all right there... ...in Kim's and Michael's link.

This is about open-ended, child-like questions, pure and simple:
https://hbr.org/2014/12/the-questions-good-coaches-ask
https://hatrabbits.com/en/ask-questions-like-a-child

Side note: I don't know how "Martian questions" is supposed to be understood. I don't ask "German questions" or "American questions" either.

Best

Herbmione Granger Feb 27, 2018:

ask Martian questions Where is your leader?
Does he have leadership skills?

Ramey Rieger (X) Feb 27, 2018:

Hi Kevin! Is there any other reference to Berne or transactional analysis in the text? Would the English-speaking trainer know what is meant?

Michael Martin, MA Feb 27, 2018:

This might shed a little light https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-211-99131-2_...