I’ve been reading a book called irrationality. It’s a nice little pop psychology book on what guides our decision making and how, most of the time, it isn’t logic. One interesting observation is that we are much less likely to be open to changing our mind if we have made a public commitment to a certain view point.
For example, pro-choice women shown some pro-life propaganda were swayed by the contents and afterwards fewer of them claimed to be in favour of abortion. Conversely, a similar group who had signed a petition in support of the cause prior to being shown the literature were not only unaffected by it, reading it actually strengthened their original view point.
I’m unsure what we should learn from that but anyone involved in a political campaign should probably bear it in mind. Answers on a postcard please.
