Evidence-Based Ways to Change Someone’s Mind | Evidence-Based Living - Psychology Today

As the election approaches, people are trying to persuade each other to vote for the candidate they believe is best. Here are the most effective ways to persuade someone online, as Evidence-Based Living reports.

An interesting study demonstrates the best strategies

The nation is gripped in a presidential election unlike any other in history, with deep divides down political lines, an economy in peril and an enduring global pandemic.
 
On top of that, political information and misinformation abounds online. Because anyone can post anything on the internet, many people in both political parties base their opinions and judgement on false information.
 
In this chaotic environment, people are clearly trying to persuade each other to vote for the candidate they believe is best for the country. Frequently, this persuasion occurs in online discussions.
 
There is not a large body of evidence about the best strategies for changing someone’s mind. But Chenhao Tan, an assistant professor of computer science at Colorado University, published a paper in 2016 that attempted to identify effective strategies for shifting someone else’s opinion...

Before we go any further, it is important to note that 70 percent of people in the study never did change their minds – and this is coming from an Internet forum where people are seeking a different viewpoint. In addition, there is no causal effect in the study. People who took the following actions were simply more likely to persuade someone.
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Source: Psychology Today