Still struggling to get the boss on-side with your latest brain-wave, or maybe you’re just at loggerheads with the partner on where to holiday this Christmas?
Well, the answer may lie in an age-old persuasion hack that dates back to the 17th Century, says the website Brain Pickings.
The site reveals that French philosopher, mathematician and physicist Blaise Pascal, born in 1623, discovered that the surest way to defeating the erroneous views of others and being more persuasive was by slipping in through the backdoor of their beliefs.
“If you want to get someone to change their mind, you might be tempted to immediately start the discussion with talking points about why they’re wrong,” says Brain Pickings.
“Pascal recommended a different approach. Start in their camp instead. Cozy up to what this person already believes, and admit there’s truth in what they believe.
“Then, present the larger picture — in which other angles and approaches exist. This approach is meant to lead someone into discovering another perspective or angle on their own.
“Instead of you doing the persuading, you’re setting them up to persuade themselves.”
Here are Pascal’s exact words on how to be more persuasive: “When we wish to correct with advantage, and to show another that he errs, we must notice from what side he views the matter, for on that side it is usually true, and admit that truth to him, but reveal to him the side on which it is false.
“He is satisfied with that, for he sees that he was not mistaken, and that he only failed to see all sides. Now, no one is offended at not seeing everything; but one does not like to be mistaken, and that perhaps arises from the fact that man naturally cannot see everything, and that naturally he cannot err in the side he looks at, since the perceptions of our senses are always true… People are generally better persuaded by the reasons which they have themselves discovered than by those which have come into the mind of others.”
So, does this 350-year-old strategy work? Quartz took that same question to Arthur Markman, psychology professor at the University of Texas in Austin.
Arthur says this approach is effective because it gets people to let their guard down. When you immediately attack someone’s beliefs as wrong, they’ll want only to dig in their heels more. But if you begin by affirming their position, you’ve taken the first step toward a cordial and potentially cooperative discussion.
He also affirms the psychological effectiveness of leading someone to “discover” the opposite approach on their own accord as a proven persuasive trick.
“If I have an idea myself, I feel I can claim ownership over that idea, as opposed to having to take your idea,” the psychology professor explains.
