WSJ: How to Change Anyone's Mind

How to Change Anyone’s Mind

People instinctively resist being forced to do things differently. Instead of pushing, try removing the barriers that stand in their way.

By Jonah Berger

"Book: The Catalyst: How to Change Anyone's Mind"

Feb. 21, 2020 11:04 am ET

Quotes from the Article

When people are asked how they’ve tried to change someone’s mind, my own research finds that the overwhelming majority of the answers focus on some version of pushing.

...it helps to look to chemistry, where there’s a proven way to make change happen fast: Add a catalyst.

Catalysts...provide an alternate route, reducing the amount of energy required for reactions to occur. Rather than pushing, they remove barriers.

Instead of giving people more facts, figures or reasons, smart change agents find the hidden obstacles preventing change and mitigate them.

There are five recurring barriers to change, but each can be overcome with the right strategy.

1. Reduce reactance.

• People like to feel like they’re in control—in the drivers’ seat.
• Psychologists call this negative response “reactance.”
• Decades of consumer behavior research shows that people have an innate anti-persuasion radar. They’re constantly scanning the environment for attempts to influence them, and when they detect one, they deploy a set of countermeasures.
• To avoid getting shot down, allow for agency. Guide the path but make sure people feel like they’re still in control.
• If you share just one solution, the clients spend the meeting trying to poke holes in it. To shift this mind-set, good presenters often share multiple options.
• Another way to reduce reactance is to highlight a gap between someone’s thoughts and actions, or between what they would recommend to others and what they themselves are doing.

2. Ease Endowment

• Research on everything from investment choices to political incumbency demonstrates that people are over-attached to the status quo, what social scientists call the “endowment effect.” We tend to stick with things we know and have used for a long time.
• Change agents combat this phenomenon by bringing the costs of inaction to the surface, helping people to realize that sticking with the status quo isn’t as cost-free as it seems.
• The technique doesn’t force people to switch, but makes it easier for them to see the cost of doing nothing.

3. Shrink Distance

• When new information comes in, people tend to compare it to their existing views to see if it is a close enough match to consider.
• “zone of acceptance,” an area close enough to people’s existing beliefs that they’ll consider new information. Incoming content that is too far away from their current perspective falls into a region of rejection and gets discounted.
• Product designers talk about such gradual shifts in behavior as stepping stones—a way to make a big shift feel less daunting.

4. Alleviate Uncertainty

• Change usually involves some level of risk.
• ...there is an “uncertainty tax.”
• To ease uncertainty, lower the barrier to trial. Don’t just tell people that something is better; allow them to experience it themselves.
• Uncertainty can also be reduced by making things reversible.

5. Find Corroborating Evidence

• For big changes, sometimes hearing from one person isn’t enough. You can follow up multiple times with new information, but the listener is still faced with a translation problem.
• Invites from two people led to almost double the sign-ups from a single invite; sign-ups were even more likely when multiple invites came in quick succession.
• It’s not about pushing harder or exerting more energy. It’s about reducing barriers to action. Once you understand that, you can change anything.