How do you talk to someone who disagrees with you politically? In case you haven't noticed, this is something that a lot of us are not good at. To day's show, i'm going to interview an expert who gave a talk about how most of us get political conversations very wrong. Rob willer has spent his entire career studying them. He has a phd in awkward uncle conversations. And what he proven is that there are effective methods for connecting with and maybe even convincing people we disagree with.
Is your family, community, or even your country more divided than ever? Today’s guest Robb Willer is here to share some compelling insights on how we might bridge the ideological divide and offer some intuitive advice on ways to be more persuasive. Robb is a professor of sociology, psychology and organizational behavior at Stanford University. He studies the role of morality in politics. His research shows how moral values, typically a source of ideological division, can also be used to bring people together. His political research has investigated various topics, including economic inequality, racial prejudice, masculine overcompensation and Americans' views of climate change. Willer's writing has appeared in the New York Times and the Washington Post, including his op-eds "The Secret to Political Persuasion" and "Is the Environment a Moral Cause?” Willer received a Ph.D from Cornell University and a BA from the University of Iowa. Before becoming a professor, he worked as a dishwasher, construction worker, mover, line cook and union organizer.