“A MAN WITH A CONVICTION is a hard man to change. Tell him you disagree and he turns away. Show him facts or figures and he questions your sources. Appeal to logic and he fails to see your point.” So wrote the celebrated Stanford University psychologist Leon Festinger. . . . In fact, head-on attempts to persuade can sometimes trigger a backfire effect, where people not only fail to change their minds when confronted with the factsthey may hold their wrong views more tenaciously than ever.
According to (Source1):
Conservative Frank Luntz and liberal George Lakoff have used the principles of neuroscience to show that facts are less important in persuading many people than “framing”. This is an important subject to learn about, to become a more effective communicator.
In the meantime, however, there may be an easier shortcut for persuading stubborn people.
Specifically, start by asking the following question:
Do you want to defend your feelings and beliefs or do you want to know the truth?
Most people will respond by saying “I want to know the truth, of course”.
They will say that because they don’t want to appear irrational, even if they usually are.
You can then start conveying facts, but repeatedly be sensitive to their feelings of resistance to the challenging facts you’re presenting, by saying things like:
“I found this hard to believe when I heard it, too”
“I know this is contrary to what we’ve been taught”
“I know it would be [painful or scary or infuriating or other adjective conveying a negative emotion] to believe that [the thing they don't want to hear about]“
And if they are resisting hearing the facts, gently remind them that they said they wanted to know the truth.
.
According to (Source2):
Associating an issue or person with an emotion is called “anchoring”.
Some words convey strong positive or negative emotions, and act as powerful anchor words. For example, in 1995, Newt Gingrich pushed the following positive words for use by politicians:
share… change… opportunity… legacy… challenge… control… truth… moral… courage… reform… prosperity… crusade… movement… children… family… debate… compete… active(ly)… we/us/our… candid(ly)… humane… pristine… provide…
liberty… commitment… principle(d)… unique… duty… precious… premise… care(ing)… tough… listen… learn… help… lead… vision… success… empower(ment)… citizen… activist… mobilize… conflict… light… dream… freedom…
peace… rights… pioneer… proud/pride… building… preserve… pro-(issue): flag, children, environment… reform… workfare… eliminate good-time in prison… strength… choice/choose… fair… protect… confident… incentive… hard work… initiative… common sense… passionate
“National security” is also, obviously, a very powerful anchor. Just using these some of these words to describe one’s position helps to persuade people towards that position.
Gingrich urged the following negative words be describe one’s opponent:
decay… failure (fail)… collapse(ing)… deeper… crisis… urgent(cy)… destructive… destroy… sick… pathetic… lie… liberal… they/them… unionized bureaucracy… “compassion” is not enough… betray… consequences… limit(s)… shallow… traitors… sensationalists…
endanger… coercion… hypocrisy… radical… threaten… devour… waste… corruption… incompetent… permissive attitudes… destructive… impose… self-serving… greed… ideological… insecure… anti-(issue): flag, family, child, jobs… pessimistic… excuses… intolerant…
stagnation… welfare… corrupt… selfish… insensitive… status quo… mandate(s)… taxes… spend(ing)… shame… disgrace… punish (poor…)… bizarre… cynicism… cheat… steal… abuse of power… machine… bosses… obsolete… criminal rights… red tape… patronage
(Gingrich’s buzzwords came from Luntz)
Lakoff and Luntz periodically release updated lists of anchors and frames concerning specific issues. For example, Lakoff writes today that Democrats promoting health care reform should use the words “freedom” and “life”. And Luntz recently wrote that those fighting financial reform should focus on phrases such as “lobbyist loopholes”, “agent of change”, “government accountability”, “bloated government bureaucracy”. (Lakoff is on the left, and Luntz on the right. But everyone should look beyond their partisan biases to their scientific communications insights. They are, after all, two of the leading experts in field of communication).
Let’s take the example of economic policy. You can write about the bailouts, credit default swaps and oligarchy until the cows come home. But you won’t reach anyone who doesn’t already know about those issues.
Instead, start out by framing the issue in terms the majority can understand. For example:
Obama’s economic advisors – just like Bush’s – are wolves in sheep’s clothing. They rewarded the greed which caused the big banks to fail and brought on the collapse last year and the decay of the whole economy. We need real reform and real change, not the hypocrisy of rewarding the banksters with more bailouts. The crisis will not end until we give some some tough love to the banks to really rein in their radical corruption.
As Frantz Fanon said, “Sometimes people hold a core belief that is very strong. When they are presented with evidence that works against that belief, the new evidence cannot be accepted. It would create a feeling that is extremely uncomfortable, called cognitive dissonance. And because it is so important to protect the core belief, they will rationalize, ignore and even deny anything that doesn’t fit in with the core belief.”
Or as it is explained to Neo in the film, “The Matrix is a system, Neo. That system is our enemy. But when you’re inside, you look around, what do you see? Businessmen, teachers, lawyers, carpenters. The very minds of the people we are trying to save. But until we do, these people are still a part of that system, and that makes them our enemy. You have to understand, most of these people are not ready to be unplugged. And many of them are so inured, so hopelessly dependent on the system, that they will fight to protect it.” (Source)
Related Articles
- Frank Luntz Compares GOP’s 2010 “Pledge” to 1994 “Contract” (bigthink.com)
- Apple changes words in order to change the debate (37signals.com)
- Change the words and you change the debate (37signals.com)
- Luntz: Voters Will Turn on Unions Next (politics.usnews.com)
- Robert Creamer: This Fall’s Election is Not about Policies and Programs – It’s About Right and Wrong (huffingtonpost.com)
- George Lakoff: Why the Democrats’ Response to the Pledge Has Been Inadequate (huffingtonpost.com)
