Changing Minds (Your Own and Others)
Susan Smith Nash, Ph.D.
Chances are, you're going to have to write a number of persuasive papers in any given semester. Even if you're not required to write a paper, you'll probably have to post items in a discussion forum, and you're going to have to be able to defend your position. You'll need to be able to help people change their minds. Further, you may need to change your mind about things you always took for granted. You'll be asked to take another look and to consider things from a different point of view.
For example, you may be taking a sociology course, and you're asked to discuss gender roles, expectations, and behaviors. In one discussion forum, you're asked to comment on a current case in the news where a woman who was jogging in the park at night was attacked and raped. You posted something in the discussion board to the effect that she was "asking for it" and "what did she expect?" To your dismay, your classmates vehemently dispute your assumptions that the woman's dress, behavior, and location made her deserving of attack.
Your first instinct is to defend yourself. You are not in a mood to be bullied, you tell yourself. However, your instructor reminds you that the goal of the course is to learn to see things from new lenses, and to gain new perspectives, and then to describe them.
So, you step back a moment and analyze what is happening. Why are you starting to be receptive to a different point of view?
Howard Gardner, an educational psychologist and researcher famous for his book, Multiple Intelligences, has discussed the process of cognitive accommodation, which, simply stated, is how we start to change our minds. In Changing Minds (2004), Gardner provides examples of how and when minds are changed, and how groups and individuals are persuaded to think in a new way.
He looks at certain elements as "levers" that move one from one place to another. Cognitive levers are what help us change our minds.
Reason
Individuals often have a self-concept in which they think of themselves as "reasonable" people. For them, it's important to think of themselves as rational and reasonable. They say that they're reasonable as they're ranting about some sort of political issue, and are verbally condemning everyone who disagrees with them to a ghastly and painful demise. How can such "reasonable" individuals be persuaded? One way is to ask them to consider the pro's and con's of certain viewpoints. Chances are, once they've come up with their own list of pro's and con's, they can be persuaded.
Research
Another way to persuade your obdurate friend of something they are dead-set against is to present them with clear, uncontrovertible evidence. Do the research. Better yet, let them do research and come up with the facts. For example, one might be convinced that measles vaccinations cause measles. If that is their belief, ask them to do research to support their premise. Chances are, the research will support the converse. Measles vaccinations prevent measles. They do not cause the disease.
Resonance
Appeal to your audience's emotions. Or, conversely, find a way to get emotionally connected to the topic at hand. For example, one might assume that a woman jogging in a park at night is "asking for" sexual assault until it happens to their own sister. Then, instead of getting on their moral high horse, they're feeling sadness and anger. Empathy reigns. Suddenly there is a certain resonance when one asks one to have compassion for the individual who was attacked in the park.
Representational Redescriptions
Can you redescribe the problem? Can you put in other words? If you do, chances are you'll disarm your audience, or at least slow them down enough to reconsider the issue and see it from a new point of view. So, the tactic of "representational redescription" can be quite effective.
Resources and Rewards
Carrot and stick. You can try to punish people for their viewpoints, but it is likely that you'll just make them angry and they'll rebel. They'll just become hardened in their mindsets and won't even think of considering your views. So, it's much better to reward them. There are often tangible rewards for adopting a new point of view. You might look at it as "selling out" -- or, alternatively, it's just a matter of practical realities. Either way, rewarding people can be a way to encourage them to think of things in a new way.
Real World Events
Sometimes a person's life causes them to stop, check their beliefs, and turn them upside down. For example, someone might be impatient with a person who is getting older and unable to move around in the same way as before. That person might have been even aggressive in their treatment of an elderly person using a walker and having difficulty seeing things. However, something might happen to them and they start to lose their own mobility. Suddenly, real-world circumstances give new meaning to the condition. The person changes her mind about the elderly.
Resistances (Overcoming)
Finally, if you're developing a persuasive paper, or are trying to persuade people of a certain position, then you may have to overcome the person's own resistances. Succinctly put, they've become hardened over the years. How can you overcome the resistances they've developed? You're going to have to do some research into what is going on in their minds and their hearts. What are their beliefs? Their values? Their life experiences? The more you know, the more you'll be able to appeal to your audience.
A Final Thought
Persuasion is often thought as a dark art, something lurking between hypnosis and enchantment. In reality, it's more of a science. If you know exactly how "levers" work, you can move seemingly impossible-to-budge objects, as well as opinions. It just takes persistence, tact, and a calm, well-reasoned approach.