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How to win arguments and actually change someone's mind - Inverse
We all know the feeling. Maybe it’s a heated argument with that crazy uncle at the holiday table, or a frustrating conversation with a colleague who just won’t budge.
At work, and in life, it can be maddening to try to change someone’s mind. That’s because people’s beliefs and opinions, while often rooted in logic and fact, are still wrapped in emotion.
Jonah Berger is a professor of marketing at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania and author of The Catalyst: How to Change Anyone’s Mind. Berger studies how beliefs catch on, stick long term, and how to change them.
“We have a very emotional attachment to things we're doing already. Whether it's the products we're using, the services we engage in, or the ideas we have at the office — we are emotionally attached to them,” Berger tells Inverse. “And so we build logic around those things to support it and look for information that supports our existing beliefs rather than disagrees with it.”
This phenomenon is called confirmation bias, and it’s prevalent in every kind of belief and subsequent choice, from what kind of coffee we drink to our spiritual practice.
We all know the feeling. Maybe it’s a heated argument with that crazy uncle at the holiday table, or a frustrating conversation with a colleague who just won’t budge.
At work, and in life, it can be maddening to try to change someone’s mind. That’s because people’s beliefs and opinions, while often rooted in logic and fact, are still wrapped in emotion.
Jonah Berger is a professor of marketing at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania and author of The Catalyst: How to Change Anyone’s Mind. Berger studies how beliefs catch on, stick long term, and how to change them.
“We have a very emotional attachment to things we're doing already. Whether it's the products we're using, the services we engage in, or the ideas we have at the office — we are emotionally attached to them,” Berger tells Inverse. “And so we build logic around those things to support it and look for information that supports our existing beliefs rather than disagrees with it.”
This phenomenon is called confirmation bias, and it’s prevalent in every kind of belief and subsequent choice, from what kind of coffee we drink to our spiritual practice.