In theory, the formula for changing our minds should be simple. We change our minds when we come across new information from credible and trustworthy sources that contradict our existing beliefs.
But we tend to forget that
Imagine how much harder physics would be if electrons had feelings.
Physicist Richard Feynman
And so, because of the weight we give to our beliefs, feelings, or biases, changing a person’s mind can’t be solved through formulaic approaches.
We may need help seeing what we can’t or won’t see. Provide ample safe space for authentic dialogue about personal, relevant topics. Then, we could open ourselves to fresh insights or new experiences, thus changing our minds when we feel seen and heard.
When people can’t agree, it’s often because there is no empathy, no sense of shared experience. If you feel what others feel, you’re more likely to see what they see. Then you can understand one another. Then you can move to the honest and respectful exchange of ideas that is the mark of a successful partnership. That’s the source of progress.
Melinda French Gates – The Moment of Lift
But before we embrace change, we might experiment with different stages.
All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.
Philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer
And as the philosopher of science Thomas Kuhn argued, paradigm shifts (fundamental concept changes within a scientific discipline) follow the same pattern. Kuhn was interested in those periods in history when there was a shift in the rules or problems of science. He noticed periods of “normal science”, which could be described as an agreement among scientists about science problems and rules and periods of “extraordinary science”, where normal science generates results that the agreed scientific rules can no longer explain. Extraordinary science times are times of scientific revolution or paradigm shifts (germ theory, evolution theory, plate tectonics theory).
Of course, new theories will be ridiculed and rejected as they threaten the status quo. Some people will never make the transition and only agree to concepts within their comfort zone. But eventually, revolutionary and proven ways of thinking become accepted and integrated as parts of normal science.
Change can come as a succession of small, well-founded and transparent decisions.
It’s a delicate thing to initiate change in a traditional culture. It has to be done with the utmost care and respect. Transparency is crucial. Grievances must be heard. Failures must be acknowledged. Local people have to lead. Shared goals have to be emphasized. Messages have to appeal to people’s experience.
The practice has to work clearly and quickly, and it’s important to emphasize the science. If love were enough to save a life, no mother would ever bury her baby—we need the science as well. But the way you deliver the science is just as important as the science itself.
Melinda French Gates – The Moment of Lift
Ideally.
But more often than not,
a new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it.
Physicist Max Planck
It is my purpose to investigate in a series of articles how people change their minds, taking examples from history to recent events. And the following article will discuss the moment when surgery shifted paradigmatically from butchering to science.