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5 Changing the World

Denise Cummins How to Get People to Change Their Minds, 25
Michelle Alexander What if we’re all coming back?, 29
Dolores Huerta from Speech at UCLA (Edited), 34
central text / DeRay Mckesson Bully and the Pulpit, 40 section two

How to Get People to Change Their Minds

Denise Cummins
Denise D. Cummins, PhD, is a research psychologist, a Fellow of
the Association for Psychological Science, and the author of over
40 scholarly works, including Good Thinking: Seven Powerful Ideas
That Influence the Way We Think. She has held faculty and research
positions at Yale University, the University of California, the Denise D. Cummins
University of Illinois, and has been an invited scientist at the Max
Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin. This piece
appeared in Psychology Today on February 25, 2016.

s the saying goes, “All the world is mad People supporting and opposing capital
Aexcept for me and thee, and I’m not too punishment were asked to read two studies, one
sure of thee.” that confirmed and one that disconfirmed their
This is the reaction many of us have when existing beliefs about the death penalty. The
people express opinions that differ markedly studies were fictional, but were described as
from our own. And then, of course, we try to actual published research. They were then asked
change their minds. of each study, “Has this study changed the way
If we were all entirely rational, then our you feel toward capital punishment?”, and “Has
beliefs would be grounded in logic and this study changed your beliefs about the
evidence, and changing our beliefs would deterrent efficacy of the death penalty?” Then
simply be a matter of presenting a logical they were given summaries of several prominent
argument backed up by objective evidence. In criticisms of the study, and the authors’ rebuttals
fact, this is how we educate students to “think to the criticisms.
critically.” It is also how our politicians and The results? The two groups became more
lawmakers debate issues. certain of their original position, and, as a result,
Yet this is rarely effective. the groups became more polarized in their
Consider [the] study by Lord, Ross and 5 beliefs!
Leppner (1979)[,] which used a very realistic Why? Because people are likely to examine
procedure to examine whether logic and relevant evidence in a biased manner, accepting
evidence lead people to change their minds: evidence that is consistent with their views
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