In the
past few weeks I have been discussing how lies can become truth. All it takes is getting your message out
there first and then repeating it often enough.
Once
someone believes that message, new information that contradicts it does not
change that belief.
So how
do we persuade someone to change their mind?
Start by remembering that all decisions are emotional. Here's a previous blog about that subject...
And
fight emotion with emotion.
Just ask the health care providers who are
trying to convince the anti-vaxxers that MMR shots don't cause autism. Telling believers the truth - that both the
researcher and the research has been totally discredited, has not been effective
in persuading them to vaccinate their children.
But,
if we understand their perspective, validate their concerns, and then relate to
them on an emotional level showing the harm that people suffer when they
believe lies, we might be able to convince them to reconsider their stance.
And in
fact, using that approach did yield some success. Specifically, sharing stories from parents whose
kids almost died and photos of sick children with ugly rashes resulted in a
more favorable perception among those who were not adamantly against vaccines. (Pinker, 2016)
Unfortunately,
those who were strongly against vaccines, simply saw the stories and photos as
supportive of their belief (Kupferschmidt,
2017)
So the
bottom line is if you are trying to overcome a misperception, your approach
needs to be emotional, not rationale.
And then maybe you can overcome the influence of the primacy effect and
cognitive dissonance. Or maybe not.
Pinker,
S. (2016, March 9) The Peril of Ignoring
Vaccines - and a Solution. wsj.com. Retrieved January 25, 2018, from https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-peril-of-ignoring-vaccinesand-a-solution-1457537743
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