Changing the minds of others

People who have gotten into an argument with other people may realize how hard it is to change other people's minds. This holds true in many aspects of life like in religion, business and even political decisions.

Most of us assume that it is a matter of stating our logic for something, complete with solid proof and evidence to persuade other people to abandon their belief and embrace a new one. However, most of the time, this does not happen even if the person holding on to a 'wrong' belief is already put at a disadvantage. And we become very frustrated.

The reason for this is logic is part of the higher function of the mind and often, one's belief is wrapped in a layer of emotion that one must also address first to proceed further in his mind. This is human nature because this is the way the human mind developed. First as a tabula rasa, then came emotions related to our personal comfort then finally, thought and awareness.

The way to change people's mind then is not to directly appeal to his intellect but to do this by appealing first to his emotion. But even before this, we must be able to make a good connection with the person we are trying to convince. We must establish to the person that we are allies with a joint interest. Then try to understand the emotional underpinning of the person's belief and work from there.