How Minds Change
As a Science Geek, and not a particularly young one, I went through phases of voracious reading about our universe, our planet, our bodies, our ancestors, and yada yada yada. Now, I find myself less interested in dark matter, australopithecines, what generates Earth's magnetic field, or how chameleons change colour. The science that interests me now lies at the intersection of social science and neuroscience. Why do we act the way we do? Why do we think the way we do? How do these things affect our ability to get along? Why do or don't we get along? How much of our behaviour is nurture or nature?
Although I still want to become a better (geo)scientist, my focus is changing. What I really want to do is become a better person. Someone who really understands that Values and Value are not the same. Someone who tries to make a difference, believing that we all can and should try to make the world a better place. I'm not a mystic, or a philosopher. I make no claim to knowing answers to our deepest questions. But I think I understand that asking questions is the important thing. Asking questions means being open to answers, possibly answers we weren't expecting. It takes a certain amount of courage (or lunacy?) to take that and similar risks. We're exposing weakness. The wolves will begin to circle...
Generally, we see others telling things to others on social media platforms (like this), in news media, or in group discussions of any sort. So many of us are telling things to each other. Someone is telling me what to think about this issue or that. Sometimes that's a good thing (e.g., I want to know if my travel plans need changing. I want to know my spleen is acting up), but other times not so much (I'll think for myself about whether I should be more interested in the environment or the economy).
The intensity goes up when people start telling each other different world views or different sets of facts. Should we stop burning fossil fuels? As you've no doubt seen, arguments begin when two people start telling each other different things. I'm never sure whether verbal combatants in these exchanges are actually trying to change someone else's mind, or whether their goal is to show the world how Right they are and how Wrong others are. Find Truth (maybe the other person really does know something) or win an argument? Often, the exchanges seem to be predicated on the belief that the more forcefully and the more often a case is made, the more likely it is to change someone's mind.
Put your hand up if you believed, when you were young obviously, in lake monsters, ghosts, alien abductions, sasquatches, or some other type of paranormal phenomenon? Put your hand down if you gave up that idea because someone shouted at you or belittled you.
领英推è
We need fewer arguments and more conversations, about every divisive topic you can imagine. To have better conversations, we need to understand how our (Humanity's) brains work. How should we talk to each other? What works, or doesn't work, when we are trying to exchange ideas?
I've mentioned David McRaney's podcast "You Are Not So Smart" before. Can't remember if I mentioned his most recent book "How Minds Change" but I've decided to advertise it via the title of this posting. I'm currently reading it, and it's incredibly informative and very well written (appropriate amounts of dry humour included at no extra charge). Among other things, it's changed my mind about which things I want to write about in these articles.
Read this book if you want to know how brains, including yours, work. Read this book if you've ever wondered why others don't change their minds even when the facts are obvious. Read this book if you believe that we all need to stop telling each other things and have better, more productive discussions.
If your goal is to win more arguments? Let's talk about that...