快猫短视频

David McRaney
Oneworld Publications

AMID increasingly entrenched views on politics, economics and how to deal with the pandemic, there seems to be a growing tally of potential conversational minefields to navigate. More than ever, it seems as if we are stuck in our own ways, unable to see another point of view 鈥� let alone trying to bring someone round to our own argument.

But don鈥檛 give up hope yet, is the message of science journalist David McRaney鈥檚 second book, How Minds Change. His first, You Are Not So Smart, was based on a popular blog and spawned an associated podcast. This time, McRaney is arguing that even though it may seem as if we are unable to find common ground with those who hold diametrically opposed viewpoints, we can do this. And more than that: we are able to get such people to see our point of view.

McRaney tries to unpick the science and synaptic responses that go on behind Damascene conversions 鈥� for example, the everyday words and deeds that can trigger a change of mind in someone who believes strongly that members of the LBGTQ+ community shouldn鈥檛 have the same rights as straight people.

He does so mostly not by running through a dry list of scientific research, but by fly-on-the-wall insight: some of the most compelling chapters follow canvassers supported by University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), neuroscientist-as they campaign for LBGTQ+ rights in California, working on scripts and prompts to successfully persuade people to loosen their opposition to equal rights for all.

Those accounts are some of the most interesting, not least because 鈥� as in real life 鈥� they aren鈥檛 black and white. The UCLA research is tainted by missteps in procedure that nullifies the results scientifically; those on the ground still swear it works, however, and it seems to, but the exact salient steps are difficult to discern because of procedural issues.

The book is full of such vignettes: McRaney spends time with former members of the Westboro Baptist Church in the US, described by the as 鈥渁rguably the most obnoxious and rabid hate group in America鈥�, learning how they came to disavow their vitriolic beliefs and become more beneficent towards others. The answer, he finds, isn鈥檛 willing people to come around to your point of view, but letting them realise the folly of their ways.

We also encounter less significant, but more foundational, errors in judgement that humankind has previously made. Through these shifts in beliefs, we can see how today we can learn to admit our misconceptions of the world and how it works.

For example, until around 1000 years ago, people truly thought that certain geese didn鈥檛 hatch from eggs, but grew on trees, birthed from barnacles that looked a lot like a goose鈥檚 head. That is an indication of just how much firmly held beliefs about how the world works can change with more information.

The concept 鈥� that, with more knowledge, long-held hypotheses can be disproved 鈥� isn鈥檛 likely to be news to 快猫短视频 readers. But it doesn鈥檛 make McRaney鈥檚 book any less interesting. Indeed, his writing is a tonic for those who might scratch their head at how others could be so nonsensical as to distrust vaccines, believe the Earth is flat or subscribe to any other number of conspiracy theories. It helps shift perceptions from the unhelpful attitude of 鈥渢his person is stupid and beyond help鈥� to 鈥渢his person has a different frame of belief, and they can be encouraged to think more deeply about the issue鈥�.

Because that is the big discovery of those Californian campaigners and the neuroscientists behind them: simply shouting facts at disbelievers doesn鈥檛 change their minds, rather it entrenches their belief 鈥� as anyone who has tackled a tricky dinner table conversation will know. Instead, to change minds, you have to not change minds at all. You have to let people come to their own conclusions 鈥� though, of course, you can help them get there by posing the right questions.