People only hear what they want to hear.

What they said: We are easing lockdown restrictions but you need to wear masks and social distance when you go out.

What people heard: Covid-19 is over.  Let's go to the beach.

Unfortunately people are more likely to hear information that reinforces their existing beliefs, and to block out information that doesn't.  It's called selective perception.  It's actually a decision-making short-cut - a way to cope with the overwhelming amount of information we deal with on a daily basis.  (Gilbert, Tafarodi & Malone, 1993)

And it's the reason why it's so hard to change someone's mind after they have decided how they feel.

Notice that last part.  It's how they feel, not what's true.  Because perception is reality.  And all decisions are emotional.

In a study about how to get anti-vaxxers to vaccinate the only approach that had any traction was showing parents pictures of sick children and having the parent of that child tell their story. (Pinker, 2016)

So I guess that means we need to show pictures of people dying from Covid-19 to these folks before they get the message.  Sadly I think there will be plenty of those to see in the next few weeks.

Stay Home. 

Your life or the life of someone you love depends on it.

Gilbert, D., Tafarodi, R. & Malone, P. (1993, August) You Can't Not Believe Everything You Read. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.  Retrieved April 3, 2020, from http://www.danielgilbert.com/Gilbert%20et%20al%20(EVERYTHING%20YOU%20READ).pdf

Pinker, S. (2016, March 12)  The Fear Factor Sells Vaccines Against Measles.  The Wall Street Journal.  pC2.

Is Trump's success due to storytelling? Or is it tribal?

I read an interesting article yesterday about the mystery of why Trump supporters continue to ignore the truth.  Yeah I know - fake news. 

The article hypothesized that Trump is a storyteller and therefore truth is irrelevant.  It made me smile as I have often commented that my husband never lets the truth get in the way of a good story. (Bencherki & Basque, 2018)

Research tells us that storytelling is both key to memory and an extremely effective sales tool.  The seminal study on the subject, done in 2009/10, was called the "Significant Objects Project."  200 random items were bought at an average cost of $1.25 each.  Professional writers added personal stories for each - clearly false as they were not intending to deceive - and then items were sold on eBay - for nearly $8,000. 

http://significantobjects.com/about/

So yes, storytelling works, and it is likely that the mirror neurons created by Trump's storytelling, and reinforced through his tweets are creating a bond with his audience. (2017)

But the article goes on to mention that Trump is in fact offering a place in his successful/high status tribe to the disenfranchised. 

That makes more sense to me.  In previous blogs I have discussed how strong the need to belong is and have hypothesized that there is no such thing as individual thought anymore because the need to belong to the tribe is simply too overwhelming. 

http://pjlehrer.blogspot.com/2018/03/is-there-any-individual-thought-anymore_14.html

But Trump's storytelling is the key to making them believe that they do in fact belong, so it is indeed one of the reasons why people continue to support him and believe his lies.  Denial is a powerful thing.

Bencherki, N. & Basque, J. (2018, August 7)  Why so many Americans continue to believe that Donald Trump’s lies are facts. rawstory.com  Retrieved August 8, 2018, from  https://www.rawstory.com/2018/08/many-americans-continue-believe-donald-trumps-lies-facts/?comments=disqus

(2017, May 8)  The Science of Storytelling & Memory and Their Impact on CRO. conversionxl.com  Retrieved August 8, 2018, from https://conversionxl.com/blog/the-science-of-storytelling-memory-motivation-and-its-impact-on-cro/

If you want people to believe you - you must speak first.

Research tells us that we tend to believe the first thing that we hear about a subject, whether or not it is true.  It's part of the primacy effect. 

Then, once we believe something, we use selective perception to hear only new information that supports our beliefs, while blocking out additional information that does not. 

We do this to deal with the upset, known as cognitive dissonance, that occurs when we have a conflict between what we believe to be true and new information. 

Since cognitive dissonance creates such an uncomfortable feeling, we opt instead for denial.  How could something be true when it makes us feel bad?  Better to just ignore it and pretend. ( McLeod, 2014)

It makes perfect sense, but it does provide a significant challenge for people trying to change perceptions.

Consider Paul McCartney, who on October 22, 1969 appeared on the BBC to refute three years of rumors about his death.  He did so by paraphrasing a comment made by Mark Twain in 1897 when he faced a similar situation, saying: "The rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated." 

Sadly, not everyone believed him. (Early, 2017)

McLeod, S. (2014) Cognitive Dissonance simplypsychology.org.  Retrieved January 17, 2018, from

https://www.simplypsychology.org/cognitive-dissonance.html

Early, C. (2017, May 12) October 22, 1969: Beatle Paul McCartney denies rumours of his own death. bt.com  Retrieved January 17, 2018, from

http://home.bt.com/news/on-this-day/october-22-1969-mccartney-speaks-out-about-the-paul-is-dead-rumours-11364011642388