[Lifestyle] The simple trick to change other people's minds

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"The growth of knowledge depends entirely upon disagreement," claimed the philosopher Karl Popper. He was writing about the dangers of dogma in science – but his words could equally apply to anyone's worldview. And if you want a disagreement to end by changing someone's mind, you have to do it in the right way.

As I found in my recent book on social connection, new psychological research can help us to have more constructive conversations about controversial issues. 

Some of the strategies surprised me. While some social media users are keen to remind us that "facts don't care about your feelings", studies suggest that people are considerably more likely to listen to our arguments if we talk about our personal experiences of the issues under discussion.

Be curious

One of the main drivers of serious disagreement was apparent in the recent Friendship Study, which comprised a questionnaire I devised with psychologist Ian MacRae, offered to BBC.com readers in July and August of last year.

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20250326-the-mind-changing-method-measured-in-minutes