{"id":33717,"date":"2023-05-01T01:38:00","date_gmt":"2023-05-01T01:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=33717"},"modified":"2023-05-02T12:06:42","modified_gmt":"2023-05-02T12:06:42","slug":"respectful-persuasion-is-a-relay-race-not-a-solo-sprint-3-keys-to-putting-it-in-practice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/respectful-persuasion-is-a-relay-race-not-a-solo-sprint-3-keys-to-putting-it-in-practice\/","title":{"rendered":"Respectful persuasion is a relay race, not a solo sprint \u2013 3 keys to putting it in\u00a0practice"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Colin Marshall<\/a>, University of Washington<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 2024 presidential election is still a year and a half away, but it can feel much closer: President Joe Biden has made his reelection bid official<\/a>, presumed candidates are giving out-of-state speeches<\/a>, pundits are already weighing in on nomination hopefuls<\/a>, and social media is, as ever, a mess of people trying to persuade strangers to back their favorite. All for good reason: Even a little political persuasion in the next year could change the course of history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m a philosopher who studies and teaches the ethics of persuasion<\/a>. My students are eager to find ways to persuade their friends, family and neighbors about political issues such as climate change and abortion. Moreover, many of them want to persuade with integrity: They want to engage the people they\u2019re talking with respectfully, instead of using the manipulative tricks they regularly see in politics and marketing. But what is respectful persuasion, and what distinguishes it from disrespectful manipulation?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s no simple formula for respectful persuasion. However, some philosophers see crucial hints in the work of 18th-century philosopher Immanuel Kant<\/a>, whose theory of respect has guided many ethicists and policymakers for the past two centuries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Drawing on Kant\u2019s work, and that of other philosophers inspired by him, I think we can isolate three key components of respectful persuasion. This isn\u2019t just an academic exercise. My students and I have found that these factors increase the chances of deep, meaningful conversation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Giving reasons<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Broadly speaking, reasons are considerations that rationally support some belief or action, including both empirical evidence and abstract arguments. For example, astronauts\u2019 pictures of a round Earth rationally support the belief that the Earth is round. When we sincerely give someone reasons, we show respect for their rationality: their ability to recognize good reasons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By contrast, a hallmark of manipulation<\/a> is bypassing rationality, such as repeatedly exposing people to false statements to make them appear true \u2013 something that psychologists call the \u201cillusory truth effect<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Manipulation can be effective, but psychologists have found that persuasion using reasons is more durable<\/a> than nonrational persuasion such as repetition-based tricks. For example, someone who comes to believe in climate change based on the scientific evidence<\/a> probably will not be as easily swayed later on by repeated exposure to climate skepticism. The rational support that good reasons provide for a belief can make that belief more stable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Being open to learning<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Giving reasons is not difficult by itself. The second component of respectful persuasion, however, is much more challenging: being open to receiving the other side\u2019s reasons \u2013 a form of intellectual humility. This is especially hard for persuaders, since they have to give up some of the time they would have used to make their case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/a>
Kant\u2019s ideas about respect are still helpful for thinking through sticky situations today. Culture Club\/Hulton Archive via Getty Images<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Kant expressed this core idea nicely. Even someone encountering a person whose opinion seems obviously wrong, Kant wrote<\/a>, has \u201ca duty \u2026 to suppose that his judgment must yet contain some truth and to seek this out.\u201d This isn\u2019t merely a suggestion to listen to people one wants to persuade. Instead, respect demands actively seeking out truth in what the other person says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, some studies<\/a> suggest that intellectual humility makes people better able to evaluate the strength of arguments. This means that intellectually humble people may be more likely to recognize that a persuader\u2019s arguments are actually better than their own, and have to reconsider their views \u2013 which can pose a real risk to someone\u2019s self-esteem<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But being open to other people\u2019s reasons also increases the chance of their being open to yours \u2013 a form of reciprocity in which you take turns learning from each other. Decades of psychological research<\/a> have shown that, especially in two-person exchanges, people value reciprocity in communication and see it as a way of treating each other fairly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In other words, if you show openness to learning from someone else, rather than just lecturing, it may seem fair to them to be open to you too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That is why faking this kind of respect can be a powerful manipulative tool. A psychologically savvy canvasser<\/a>, for instance, can manipulate swing voters by pretending to be open to learning about their own opinions. But this carries its own risk, since people who discover they have been manipulated may resent it<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Live and let live<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Kant\u2019s central principle of respect<\/a> is that one should \u201cnot degrade any other as a mere means\u201d to one\u2019s ends. This requires people to rein in their own self-love out of consideration for others. In popular culture, this might be summed up in the idea of \u201clive and let live\u201d: Other things being equal, we shouldn\u2019t interfere in other people\u2019s lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Overlooking this principle can make persuasion disrespectful in a variety of ways, even when the persuader has good intentions. The philosopher George Tsai<\/a> argues that this happens in cases of unsolicited advice<\/a>: Imagine, he writes, that while your date goes to the restroom, an eavesdropping stranger tells you that she thinks you could do better. Even if the stranger is right, it\u2019s simply none of her business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Two<\/a>
Having an opinion doesn\u2019t mean you need to share it. DragonImages\/iStock via Getty Images Plus<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Another example of how interference can make persuasion disrespectful is that changing someone\u2019s mind<\/a> can harm their dignity and disrupt their connection to their community. For example, say that you persuade a relative who lives in a small ranching community to become vegan. That change might lead to their being ostracized by people they rely on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because persuasion can affect other people\u2019s lives in many ways, this third component of respect is the most difficult to adhere to. Sometimes, people may be justified in interfering in other people\u2019s lives, such as if lives are at stake or in particularly close relationships<\/a> \u2013 but those are special circumstances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One conversation at a time<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In class, my students attempt to persuade one another four times, using a range of formats: five minutes vs. a whole week; in person vs. over Zoom. At the end, they score one another on effectiveness and respectfulness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My students are smart, informed and passionate, and the class offers them a positive, carefully structured environment. Despite all that, they almost never succeed in persuading one another \u2013 at least not when it comes to politics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Something interesting happens, though, when they let respect guide their conversations. Instead of launching into lectures, they start seeing each exchange as an opportunity to learn from each other \u2013 perhaps as an opportunity to leave their partner thinking about something in a new way, without fully persuading them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you approach our conversation as a chance to exchange ideas, without trying to change my mind, you may lay a cornerstone of trust. That, in turn, could make me more receptive to similar viewpoints in the future \u2013 even if I\u2019m speaking with other people. Truly respectful political persuasion might best be seen as an extended team effort, not a one-time, one-person task.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Colin Marshall<\/a>, Associate Professor of Philosophy, University of Washington<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Colin Marshall, University of Washington The 2024 presidential election is still a year and a half away, but it can feel much closer: President Joe Biden has made his reelection bid official, presumed candidates are giving out-of-state speeches, pundits are already weighing in on nomination hopefuls, and social media is, as ever, a mess of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":33718,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[296,4],"tags":[5817,6348,196,4922,13637,13973,8993,3185,581,13974,697],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33717"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33717"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33717\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33720,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33717\/revisions\/33720"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33718"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33717"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33717"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}