The united nations has a universal declaration of human rights. They asked 25 hundred participants to rate, on a scale from zero to ten, how much they agreed or disagreed with each of the 24 statements in that declaration. But without mentioning that the items came from the united nations declaration, they then reduced that down to the five items people tended to agree on the most. So we have an established foundation of shared values in all these regards. With that set aside, they then pulled into the study three wedge issues, abortion, emigration and gun control. And they found in the polling that when it comes to these issues, if the proposition is abortion should be legal in most or all cases, 35
New research suggests people on opposite sides of wedge issues want to listen to each other. We are each eager to hear differing opinions and understand opposing views, and when we do it can change our minds (at least a little), but only when we aren't triggered by the psychological phenomenon of reactance - one of several ideas we explore in this episode.
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