The emphasis is on setting aside personal biases and listening to the users - a principle that I understood given my background in psychology.
Was I to distil an entire user base into a single, fabricated individual, complete with a made-up life story and hobbies? How does this approach align with user-centred design principles when it appears to involve generalising and stereotyping users?
There is substantial psychological research around empathy, both cognitive and emotional, suggesting by observing others we are able to mimic their emotions in our Mirror Neuron System, thereby better understanding other's mental states and emotion.
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