Slides from Communicate 2017 - to see all slides and resources from the conference go to www.communicatenow.org.uk

1. The Science of How Minds Change and Views Become Entrenched
Kris De Meyer – King’s College London – kris.de_meyer@kcl.ac.uk

2. “A man with a conviction
is a hard man to change.
Tell him you disagree
and he turns away.
Show him facts or figures and
he questions your sources.
Appeal to logic and
he fails to see your point.”
Leon Festinger (1956)

4. “How does it feel like to believe?”
“After you’ve seen all the evidence…” “It all fit together.
I knew it was right.”
“You’ve somehow gotten to this corner…”
Video available here: http://rightbetween.com

5. Two aspects to beliefs
‘belief’: any idea our brains accept as “true”
• a reasoned component
 “I have evidence”
• an intuitive component
 “It feels right”
 “It all fits”
 “It somehow happened”

6. Not one type of thinking, but two…
Intuitions Reasoninginteract
Source: Jonathan Haidt, The Righteous Mind
Controlled
Analytical
Automatic
Experiential
Not “irrational vs rational” nor “emotional vs rational”

7. Our Elephants in Operation
Video available here: http://www.all-about-psychology.com/fritz-heider.html

8. Social Attribution | Mind Reading
We automatically assign
• intentions
• emotions
• character traits
Significance
• social thinking = automatic (elephant)
• +: minds are tailored to respond to stories about people
• !: triggered when people detect stealth behaviour change interventions
• -: assigning negative motivations in contentious debates
It allows us to
• cooperate
• judge who we trust/distrust

10. Source: Elliot Aronson & Carol Tavris, “Mistakes Were Made”
Opinion-> Action or Action -> Opinion?

12. Value Map

13. Significance of Value Differences
Strongly affect initial “resonance” (elephant)
• acceptance
• indifference
• angry rejection
• despondent
Examples of climate change value frames
“We have to change our
behaviour to save the planet”
“Where can I buy the
solution to climate change?”
“We’re too insignificant to
have an effect on climate.”
“It’s too late. We can’t do
anything about it.”

14. Summary (so far)

15. Two Unintended Consequences of Interventions

16. Shaping the path Instructing the rider Leveraging Internalisation
Three Modes of Behaviour Change

17. Lab vs. Real World

18. Different Contexts for Interventions

19. “Stealth” behaviour change interventions
can and will breed resistance in long run

21. Links
tinyurl.com/ccspc-report
watch.rightbetween.com