“Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don’t Know” by Adam Grant

February 23, 2021

“Think Again” (Reading Log 2/23/21) #

February 23, 2021

Just got back from a walk with Booster. She’s street legal now but it doesn’t mean that she won’t eat everything. 1.3 miles in 50 minutes, let’s GO.

I’ve been listening to Adam Grant’s “Think Again”. On today’s walk I got to a part where he talks about sports rivalries. He mentions this commercial with a couple kissing while wearing Ohio State and Michigan sweaters.

“Without sports, this wouldn’t be disgusting.”

Further on, he talks about how things can backfire when you try to change someone’s mind (in this case, on measles vaccines):

This is a common problem in persuasion: what doesn’t sway us can make our beliefs stronger. Much like a vaccine inoculates our physical immune system against a virus, the act of resistance fortifies our psychological immune system. Refuting a point of view produces antibodies against future influence attempts. We become more certain of our opinions and less curious about alternative views. Counterarguments no longer surprise us or stump us—we have our rebuttals ready.

Logic and facts can’t always overcome emotions.

I roll my eyes when people are proud that they don’t watch sports and lay out how illogical it is—waste of time, rooting for rich people to play a game, why would you care about this when there are so many actual issues in the world, etc.

And they probably roll their eyes back at the other side of the argument. But, but, but. The emotion!

What’s the takeaway here? If you’re going to change someone’s mind, remember that you might need more than logic to do it.