Changing Minds

by Howard Gardner

 

 

Gardner, Howard. Changing Minds. Boston, MA: Harvard Buisness School Publishing, 2006.

 

 

 

Chapter 1- The Contents of the Mind

 

• Leaders almost by definition are people who change minds.

 

• A key to changing a mind is to produce a shift in an individuals "mental representations"- the particular way in which a person perceives, codes, retains, and accesses information.

 

• Presenting multiple versions of the same concept can be an extremely powerful way to change some one's mind.

 

• Mental Representations have Content and Format
  • Content- a basic idea that is contained in the representation.
  • Format- the particular language or system of symbols or notation in which the content is presented.

 

• Seven Factors that cause change
  1. Reason- figures heavily in matters of belief. A rational approach involves identifying relevant factors, weighing in on each, and making an overall assessment.
  2. Research- entails the identification of relevant cases and a judgement about whether they warrant a change of mind.
  3. Resonance- a view, idea, or perspective resonates to the extent that it feels right and convinces a person that further considerations are superfluous. Resonance often comes about because one feels a relation to a mind-changer, finds that person reliable, or respects that person.
  4. Redescriptions- A change of mind becomes convincing to the extent that it lends itself to representation in a number of different forms, with these forms reinforcing on another.
  5. Resources and Rewards- the provision of resources is an instance of positive reinforcement. Individuals are being rewarded for one course of behavior and thought rather than the other.
  6. Real World Events- an event occurs in the broader society that affects many individuals, not just those contemplating a mind change.
  7. Resistance- It becomes difficult to alter one's mind as years pass. We develop strong views and perspectives that are resistant to change.

 

• Mind change is most likely come about when the first six factors flow in the same direction and the resistances are relatively weak.

 

• Terminology as it is used in the book.
  • Idea- denotes an mental content including concepts, stories, theories, and skills.
  • Concept- an umbrella term that refers to any set of closely related entities.
  • Stories- narratives that describe events that unfold over time.
  • Theories- formal explanations of processes in the world.
  • Skills- consists of procedures that individuals know how to carry out, whether or not they choose to put them into words.

 

 

Chapter 2- The Forms of the Mind 

 

• After the early years, minds rarely change quickly.

 

• A feeling of "hitting a dead end"often primes one for a change of mind.

 

•  Intelligence- a biopsychological potential to process specific forms of information in certain kinds of ways.

 

• If I am able to change a persons idea of about a certain entity, I am altering the images, concepts, and theories that the  person has been accustomed to thinking about that entity. Accordingly, the more of an individuals intelligences I can appeal to when making an argument, the more likely I am to change a person's mind, and the more minds I am likely to change.

 

• Multiple Intelligences- 1) intelligence is pluralistic; it includes fashioning products as well as solving problems, and 2) it is defined on the basis of what happens to be valued at a particular historical time in a particular cultural context.
  • Linguistic- use of spoken and written language.
  • Logical-Mathematical- determining a sequence through time and numbers.
  • Musical-similar to linguistic.
  • Spatial- capacity to form spatial representations or images in ones mind.
  • Bodily-Kinesthetic- capacity to solve problems or create products using the body.
  • Naturalist- the capacity to make consequential discriminations in the natural world.
  • Personal- knowing human beings
    • Interpersonal- used to discriminate among persons, figure out their motivations, work effectively with them and, if necessary, manipulate them.
    • Intrapersonal- ones ability to create a good working model of self; can identify personal feelings, goals, fears, strengths, and weaknesses; and can use that model to make judicious decisions in their life.
  • Existential- entails the human capacity to pose and ponder the biggest questions:
    • Who are we?
    • Why are we here?
    • What is going to happen to us?
    • Why do we die?
    • What is it all about, in the end?

 

*Existence is not just a product. It is also an underacknowledged facet of the workplace; if people do not find meaning in their work lives, they are destined to be dissatisfied and unproductive.

 

•  The Cognitive Approach to understanding human beings.
  • this allows us to conceptualize what people are thinking, how they are thinking, and how that thinking can be changed.
  • based on emerging scientific understanding of how the mind works.
  • One can be quite explicit about the representations of a person when changing minds.
  • each of our minds, with its universal and idiosyncratic forms of representation, can be used to understand the minds of others as well as our own minds.

 

 

Chapter 3- The Power of Early Theories

 

• When we are young, our minds change with great ease. We pick up information with facility and retain it readily and our understanding of the world alters quickly. 
  • Children think about the world in ways that are fundamentally different from those exhibited by adults. And yet,apparently without the need for formal tuition, youngsters come to change their minds in fundamental ways.
  • During the early years of life, children form very strong emotional ties and exhibit powerful reactions to those around them. These strong feelings continue to color our subsequent relations with others.

 

*We need to know as much as we can about how the mind naturally changes, and where the resistances lurk. Otherwise, we are likely to be stymied in trying to bring about voluntary mind changing.

 

• Childhood Theories Prove Resistant to Change
  • Making sense is a deep human motivator, but making sense is not the same as being correct.

 

• When the mind learns something it can be viewed as engravings in the brain. These engravings are enduring. However, in school, one learns many facts (like "the earth is round") and, when properly prompted, can repeat these sound bites. From a distance, it looks like facts are piling up high and one has learned a great deal. However, all too often, the fundamental engraving has remained unchanged and actually learning did not take place. And so, when a student is posed a question for which he has not properly prepared, not only is he stymied but, more often than not, the respondent reverts to the earlier engraving, or, to shift metaphors, slides back into the valley of ignorance.

 

• The more emotional one's commitment to a cause or belief, the more difficult to change.

 

• It is potent enough when one has a private commitment to a point of view, but once someone has made public pronouncements on a perspective, matters of pride and consistency push one toward hugging the theory, however discredited.

 

• The more absolutist one's approach to life, the more certain of one's opinions, the less likely one is to abandon them.

 

• Factors that Impel Changes of Mind
  • A person with a much greater 'zone of potential development' is more likely to learn new information and implement this information to increase performance or effectiveness.

 

• The use of scaffolding (offering just enough support to improve performance significantly). According to Vygotskian theory, successful scaffolding is internalized; what first must come from outside should eventually be handled by "conversations" within one's own mind.

 

•  When one experiences a traumatic event in their life, they are more open to immediate change.

 

*It is easier to talk about changing minds in general than to effect enduring changes in any particular mind.

 

 

Chapter 4- Leading a Diverse Population

 

•  To change minds effectively, leaders make particular use of two tools: the stories that they tell and the lives that they lead.

 

• Elements of a good narrative:
  • A protagonist
  • A goal
  • Obstacles
  • Distinctiveness- a new story has to have enough familiar elements to that it is not instantly rejected yet be distinctive enough that it compels attention and engages the mind. The audience has to be prepared, in one sense, and yet surprised, in another.

 

• * Darwin- we may think of the mind as a vast hall of combat. In that competitive environment, various stories compete, wrestle, vie with one another for survival, for long-time entrenchment in the mind, for the opportunity to stimulate consequential behaviors.

 

• For a story to prevail, it will need to gain a hearing, and , eventually, ascencancy over competing  stories (counterstories).

 

• The key to Bill Clinton's success lay in his ability to study the personalities of the people with whom he was dealing and to determine what it took to get along with them, where their weak spots were, who was lazy, who was committed. He always grabbed on to some point of agreement, while steering the conversation away from larger points of disagreement- leaving his seducee with the distinct impression that they were in total harmony on just about everything. Clinton carried out a priori analysis about what was likely to persuade a particular person or audience... and also combined this analytic capacity with the ability to make small but consequential changes in light of the "real-time" reactions of his audience: a capacity that is associated with performers who skillfully adjust their presentation depending on the idiosyncrasies of a particular audience at a particular moment in the day and a particular time in history.

 

•  Leaders must not only provide leadership and direction with in their own camps or partied but also develop and "sell" a message to a decidedly mixed population.

 

• The Challenge Posed by Diverse Populations
  • Work to create a compelling story, embodying that story in one's own life, and presenting the story in many different formats so that it can eventually topple counterstories in one's culture. Any old story will not do; it must exhibit certain characteristics.
  • The story must be simple, easy to identify with, emotionally resonant, and evocative of positive experiences.
  • Encourage audience members to participate, to be able project the qualities for which they are looking for onto you. Do not attempt to say everything and leave no role for the imaginative powers of the audience.

 

• Continue to utilize reason, multiple modes of representation, ad resonance with the experiences of those you seek to influence. At the same time, mollify the resistances that may be encountered; take advantage of real world events; marshal whatever resources are available.

 

 

Chapter 5- Leading an Institution: How to Deal with a Uniform Population

 

• It can be assumed that the members of such an organization have a common destiny- after all, if a corporation fails, none of its employees has a livelihood

 

• Members of an organization are likely to have minds that have been schooled in the core philosophy, knowledge, and culture of their particular group. A leader of a relatively uniform group, therefore, can present a story of somewhat greater complexity-perhaps even a "theory" of operations-than can the leader of a nation or one who leads across national boundaries.

 

• It is never easy to bring about a change of mind; and it is even more difficult to replace a simple way of thinking about a matter with a more complex way. Simpler mind changes tend to trump more complex ones.

 

• Talk about the importance of excellent ideas, the power of intellectual discourse, the contributions to society made by individuals who valued the life of the mind.

 

• Being seen as an intellectual leader will ultimately impress all stakeholders in time.

 

• Continue to convey the importance and desirability of your goal.

 

• Challenge directly the prevailing resistances- the ideas that are stale, erroneous, or harmful.When implementing change do not make everyone feel inadequate: this too-frequently-employed leadership tactic almost always backfires. Rather than directly challenge the current level of quality, deal with resistance by instituting procedures designed to raise the standards.

 

• Use the resources available, such as an appropriate reward system, to initiate new policies and practices.

 

• Describe a vision in a variety of ways and provide nonthreatening opportunities for people to "try on" the new vision. This takes direct advantage of the notion of multiple intelligences: individuals learn most effectively when they can receive the same message in a number of different ways, each re-representation stimulating a different intelligence.
  • create a narrative that tells a compelling story.
  • put forth a logical argument- existing conditions that undermine recent developments versus the various alternatives.
  • appeal to the deeper questions about life, experience, and possibility.
  • create a work of art or call attention to the aesthetic aspects of the proposed change.
  • collaboration efforts.

 

•  Although tipping points sometimes occur quickly, in most cases it takes much time, much practice, and considerable backsliding before a genuine tipping point has been negotiated.

 

•  Be careful of hyperbole- putting forth a story that was not supported by the current facts.

 

• Hallmarks of the effective Leader:
  • Intelligence- Three areas
    • Storytellers- leaders must be gifted linguistically.
      • Create a story
      • Communicate if effectively
      • Alter the story if changes prove warranted
    • Interpersonal Intelligence- leaders need to understand people, be able to motivate them, listen to them, and respond to their needs and aspirations.
    • Existential intelligence- leaders need to be comfortable with posing fundamental questions.
  • Instinct
    • Gut Instinct- a feeling of the right move in a particular situation, usually not fully formed
      • put intuitions into words, to try them out on trusted associates and seek their candid reactions.
      • be willing to admit that some gut decisions will be wrong and learn from the mistakes by analyzing the process that went into the decision making.
  • Integrity
    • Take time for daily analysis and reflection, as well as occasional periods of deeper analysis, when one "goes to the mountaintop"
    • Develop an openness to changes in the world and in oneself; sensitivity to the valid strains in both stories and counterstories; flexibility in the presentation of one's fundamental themes; and a sense of deep commitment to a mission coupled with humility about one's actual potency.
    • Stories that do not resonate with reality ultimately prove frustrating and ineffective. The most important ingredient for a story to embody is truth; and the most important trait for a leader to have is integrity.

 

 

 Chapter 6- Changing Minds Indirectly- Through Scientific Discoveries, Scholarly Breakthroughs, and Artistic Creations.

 

•  Indirect leaders operate beyond the political sphere and work to influence others through their creations. Creative works have changed our minds about what is art- and often our perceptions of the world itself. Major creators go beyond stories by changing the minds of others through the work they carried out.

 

•  Frank Sulloway has stated that if you want to change minds about consequential ideas, find an audience of later-borns.

 

• Thomas Kuhn states that leading mature scientists of a generation are least likely to accept a dramatic shift in theory or paradigm. The new paradigm is most likely to be embraced by individuals who are just beginning to work in a particular domain. The younger individuals lack a vested interest in the old perspective, they are more likely to be flexible, and, indeed, they may gain a certain pleasure in seeing the old dogmas overthrown and in having the opportunity to pursue a freshly opened line of work.

 

• For a youthful or iconoclastic segment the very resistance to an idea in general can incline members of that segment to accept the idea more readily.

 

• "Climate creators" work to change the way in which we think about ourselves and our society.

 

• Artists change minds by introducing new ideas, skills, and practices. Tipping points have been achieved when fellow artists alter their practices and when audience members alter their tastes.

 

• Artists alter our minds in three ways:
  1. they expand our notion of what is possible.
  2. they employ themes that rarely if ever have been the subject of art.
  3. they help us understand or define the spirit of an era.

 

• Simonton- "the most acclaimed creators not only create more works than their peers, they also generate more failures."

 

•  One can be excited or left unmoved by innovations, but one can also be repelled by them. While resistance can be seen as negative, it can also play a more positive role. It is valuable to wrestle with ideas we initially resist, to show where they are inadequate or wrong. Such struggle can strengthen one's perspective, help one to understand it better, and possibly stimulate a change of one's own mind.

 

•  Individuals who invent a product or develop a new policy seek from the outset to reach the widest possible public, to change the minds of millions.

 

• *Social marketing uses the disciplined, iterative methods perfected by "high end" advertisers to promote socially desirable ends.
  1. Acknowledge that most individuals do not even recognize when a particular problem exists; their consciousness must accordingly be raised. Only when a problem is recognized as such is there a possibility for change.
  2. The individual must become aware of the available options and their costs and benefits, individuals need to be motivated even to consider a new approach. The more convinced the individual becomes about the seriousness of the problem and the chances that some course of action will be able to deal with it, the more likely the individual will consider changing that behavior.
  3. A decisive step is taken when one attempts the alternative behavior for the first time. However, unless there is continuing strong support, the new behavior is not likely to be maintained.

 

 

 * Two Axes of Mind Changing

1. Direct or Indirect effort
   • Direct effort seeks to change minds through face-to-face encounters
   • Indirect effort is keen on changing mental representations about specific content, as well as representations of how one goes about executing work in a particular domain or medium by what is created.
2. Composition of an audience
   • Heterogeneous- diverse
   • Homogeneous- similar

 

 

Chapter 7- Mind Changing in a Formal Setting (school)

 

• In school, a collection of youngsters comes together for stated hours each day; the students are expected to be civil to one another, to heed the dominant adult figure(s), and to sit still for relatively long periods of time so that they can master materials whose application to their daily lives seems obscure.

 

• In the first years of life, youngsters learn chiefly by observing older persons carry out daily activities; but once a child has gotten the "school idea," she can learn about objects and events in a setting remote from their actual location and time of occurrence.

 

• If one wants to infiltrate the minds of individuals today, one needs to know which sort of mind is at issue: that fact will determine the optimal forms of information, the optimal modes of informing, the optimal means of transforming, and the factors that are likely to yield a tipping point.

 

• It has been estimated that it takes ten years to become an expert in a domain (and perhaps another ten years to make truly original contributions to that domain).

 

• Three conditions to meeting disciplinary understanding:
  1. It is necessary to confront directly the many misconceptions that youngsters hold:
     • misconceptions about content
     • misconceptions about method

 

* Resistance must be clearly recognized and confronted. Youngsters need to see that-however strongly held- their conceptions are not necessarily correct. This realization can only emerge by virtue of regular and systematic confrontation of their "natural" but typically inadequate modes and conclusions of thought.

 

2. Individuals must absorb themselves deeply in examples: specific scientific theories, historical examples, works of art. By careful study, using research and reason, one comes to a detailed understanding of certain area within a discipline.
3. By gaining a detailed understanding, the opportunity arises to approach a topic in a number of different ways.

 

• It would be foolish, and in any case unnecessary, to claim that every topic should be approached in six, eight, a dozen ways. Yet it is equally misguided to approach each topic in only one way.

 

• If one can present a topic in several ways, two important outcomes ensue:
  1. One reaches more students
  2. One conveys to students the idea that disciplinary experts readily conceive of topics in more than one way.

 

• The BP company- past versus present.
  • Once a conventionally hierarchical firm, it is now organized in a flat way.
  • Once an organization where responsibility was diffuse or altogether absent, it is now a company where each individual is expected to contribute directly to profits or to engage in creating or distributing knowledge that will ultimately increase profits. Those who could not justify their contributions were dismissed.
  • BP became a "learning company," trafficking in the creation and alteration of mental representations.
  • Executives spend a great deal of time in strategy sessions- reflecting on the current state of the industry as well as the opportunities available, the possible pitfalls, and alternative courses of action.
  • The company is now characterized by considerable experimentation and virtually instantaneous communication of all knowledge within the company.

 

• How do you weave this type of thinking into the fabric of an industry?
  • A leader must proceed from his own internal representations of both the present and of the desired state of affairs to some kind of a public presentation that captures this vision.
  • Each member of the leadership team will likely have his/her own mental representation, and each will likewise utilize modes of expression that are comfortable.
  • The team must hammer out an acceptable consensual representation.
  • The team then needs to communicate this representation widely and test whether it can gain support.

 

•  *There is usually good reasons why such entrenched views persist and defy ready abandonment. Yet there are times when these views are counterproductive. Having identified this challenge, it is the tack of the authorized leaders to determine the best ways in which to challenge the "earlier representation," demonstrate its limitations, suggest reasons for another perspective, and embody the alternative stories in as many impressive and diverse formats as possible.

 

•  Lifelong learners need to know how to monitor changes in relevant domains. Whatever one's business, one needs to be in touch with what else is going on and what else is being thought around the globe. That is how the content of one's mind becomes updated.

 

•  A person that knows his mind is most likely to be able to change it effectively.

 

 

 Chapter 8- Mind Changing Up Close

 

• Listen charismatically. Individuals who have a reservoir of goodwill, who can make colleagues feel that they matter, are most likely to bring about the changes that they desire.

 

• The Creation of Resonance.
  1. Establish common links.
  2. Engage in a common enterprise.
  3. Both parties need to be engaged in a give-and-take relationship.
  4. Monitor the overall tone of the conversation.

 

• It is crucial for a leader to be attuned to signs that he is alienating a constituent.

 

• If one hopes to be effective with a particular person, it it vital to find out as much as one can about that person's traits, dispositions, scripts, and favored mental representations. Part of this individual portrait can be gleaned from due diligence beforehand; part must be picked up "on the fly" in the course of a meeting or series of meetings.

 

•  General Considerations:
  • Arguments, fact, rhetoric: Is this person moved chiefly by argument, with its logical components? What role do facts, information, and data play in this person's hierarchy of considerations? Are rhetorical flourishes or logically ordered propositions more likely to capture attention and bring about changes?
  • Central versus peripheral routes: Is this person more likely to be engaged by a direct discussion of the issue? Or would it be best to bring up one's concerns indirectly- through questions, examples, tone of voice, gestures, pregnant pauses, and well-timed silences?
  • Consistency: How concerned is this person with consistency? Does this person care about whether stated beliefs, attitudes, and actions are consistent with one another? If so, how can one help this person deal with any inconsistencies?
  • Stance on conflict: How much is this person bothered by the give-and-take of argument? Does this person like to match wits, or is it preferable to avoid sharp exchanges? If one has gone too far, how does one restore calm or equilibrium?
  • Emotionally charged territory: What are the issues and ideas about which this person feels strongly? Should one engage these or avoid them? Can one mobilize this person around an area of strong feeling? How does one avoid the minefields that stand in the way of the desired change? Is this person motivated more by attraction to what she likes, or fear of what she dislikes?
  • Current scripts- content: On any topic, the conversants will have certain scripts or mental representations that are more or less well consolidated. If possible, it is important to determine beforehand what those scripts are, and how strongly they are held. Such information can be gleaned from a person's writings, conversations, or discussions with others who know the person well. Any negotiation will necessarily begin from those deeply held scripts- Whether the ultimate goal is to build on these scripts or to call them into question.
  • Current scripts- form: Individuals differ in the symbol systems, formats, or intelligences in which they habitually encode their mental representations. To the extent possible, it it desirable to determine which "forms of representation" are favored by an individual and to embed concerns in those familiar forms. So, for example, if a favors graphic demonstrations, these should be employed when feasible. If, on the other hand, the person is influenced by the human embodiment of a desired perspective, the mind changer should try to model or embody the desired changes.

 

*Avoid egocentrism-becoming ensnared in one's own agenda. The purpose of a mind-changing encounter is not to articulate your own point of view but rather to engage the psyche of the other person. In general, the more that one knows about the scripts and strengths of the other person, the resistances and resonances, and the more that one can engage these fully, the more likely one will be successful in bringing about the desired change.

 

 

Chapter 9- Changing One's Own Minds

 

•  We can change the minds of those to whom we are close, and they can change our minds as well. However, whatever the cause or prompt, we must ultimately be in charge of our own mind changing. At times of such powerful mind changes, the ability of a person to be aware of what is going on in his own mind is crucial.

 

• Giuliani- "The notion that changing your minds about an issue is waffling is false. Through trial and error you come to realize that an idea you had was mistaken... It is one thing to change your mind as you evolve intellectually. It is quite another to change your mind because political obedience or a bad press suggest a more popular course."

 

•  Changing minds on issues of consequences is never easy; proclaiming that one has changed one's mind is even more difficult. When such changes of mind occur, they are most likely to entail issues that are readily articulated and categorizable. It is difficult to recognize the themata to which one has a deep and often unconscious affiliation, and hence even more difficult for individuals to change their fundamental assumptions about the nature of experience. What resonates with our psyche is what we most cherish and are least likely to abandon.

 

 Chapter 10- Epilogue: Mind Change One Last Time

 

• Wetware is based on the attempt to change the mind at the organic level of behavior based an increased level of understanding that occurs within the brain.

 

• Dryware is based on the creation of systems and external artifacts that will someday surpass humans in intelligence.

 

• One Last Time

1. Present content and desired content- Determine what is the current content and what is desired to help arrive at a strategy suitable for mind changing.
2. Size of audience- Large audiences are affected chiefly by powerful stories, rendered by individuals who embody their stories in the lives that they lead, intimate audiences can benefit from approaches that are much more individually contextualized.
3. Type of audience
   • Large and Heterogeneous= unschooled mind= simple stories
   • Individuals who share knowledge= complexity
4. Directness of change
   • Direct= politicians, buisness, educational leaders
   • Indirect= longer to change based on influence over time and longer lasting
5. Levers of change and Tipping points- Every example of mind changing has its unique facets. But in general, such a shift of mind is likely to occur when we employ the seven levers of mind change.
6. Ethical dimension- Mind changing can occur for all of the right or wrong reasons.