Book Review: How Minds Change

A quick look at a book I really enjoyed.

I really find it fascinating how us humans think and (more interestingly) how we think we think, if that makes sense. I specifically am curious and captivated by  how we make decisions and what compels us to change our minds, which leads us to today’s post and book review on  How Minds Change by David McRaney. McRaney also has a podcast that I think is worth listening to.

The majority of us think we are rational creatures. We like to believe that we make decisions by carefully looking at the data and considering both sides of an argument. However, it turns out that most of our decisions about major topics come from our social group’s beliefs or are driven by our existing beliefs and emotions around the subject. 

The book explores all sorts of interesting perspectives, such as people from the Westboro church and a former 9/11 Truther. McRaney takes the reader through how each person changed their mind and how the change affected them inside their social group. 

Please note, I didn’t summarise as many points from the book as I usually do. This was because I felt there were too many things that were worthwhile, which would have made this post exceedingly long. I did, however, manage to create a short list of some of my favourite takeaways. 

Some notes from the book

• The speed of you changing your mind is inversely proportional to the strength in our certainty.

• People are more likely to change their mind or challenge their assumptions if you state your intentions up front. They need to feel safe. 

  • If the person feels  you think they are gullible or you are shaming them, they are much more likely to resist. 

  • This is why you should state your intentions up front and come at things from a place of curiosity.

• Traditional debates have winners and losers and nobody wants to lose. This is why few change their mind, even if they “lose” a debate. 

• The only way someone changes their mind is if they change their own mind.

  • There is (usually) no superior piece of information that will get someone to change their mind. 

  • Arguing based on interpretation of the facts seems wasteful. 

• Important decisions are made more with emotions, and at a visceral level, than facts and figures. 

• Once someone knows where their ideas came from, they can work towards understanding them and  potentially changing them.

• Something people are usually unaware of is what is called a consistency bias. This is when we believe our opinions today are ones we have always had. We forget that we change our minds 

• When the truth is uncertain, our brains will work to resolve the uncertainty without us knowing by creating a more likely reality based on our own personal experiences. 

• After facing extreme adversity (and sometimes trauma) we may shed some of our assumptions that now seem outdated. Until this trauma, we never had the opportunity to question these assumptions. 

• Until we know we are wrong, being wrong feels exactly like being right. 

• The author gives several examples of people leaving the Westboro church. These people originally left for personal reasons but once they left, they had the ability to challenge other beliefs which were imposed on them by the Westboro church. 

• We form groups of “us” based on anything that possibly separates us. 

• The world is too vast and complex for one person to understand so we get many of our beliefs from our social groups. 

  • We also don’t want to threaten our place in the trusted social group so we will not challenge the group's beliefs.

• The more intelligent, educated and the more data at your disposal, the better you become at rationalising your existing beliefs and attitudes. 

The book goes over several strategies to understand other people’s beliefs and understand where they come from. This includes Street Epistemology and Deep Canvassing. I have been listening to the Street Epistemology podcasts and watched some videos on Deep Canvassing. I have learned and will admit that I, personally, have to work very hard not to be judgemental. I often have to remind myself  to come from a place of curiosity without letting my existing beliefs pollute a conversation. This is not always easy but I recognize it as a growth opportunity which can be useful in various areas of my life. 

Closing Thoughts

This book is definitely in my top 10 books to read if you want to explore parts of human psychology. As well, I think it’s useful if you want to engage others with a different perspective on topics. I would recommend it. 

Thanks for reading

Dean