The Power of Nod

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Martha 72 is strongly opposed to abortion and tries to politely return however, she had been spending her Saturday before we interrupted.
Steve asked on abortion rides where she saw herself on a scale of zero to ten, zero being a belief there should be no legal access to abortion in any way, and ten being support for complete, full, easy access without hesitation.
Martha said she was of five. Steve raised his clipboard and a mark while nodding.
Then he asked martha why that number felt right to her. Martha told us every one had the right to their own bodies, but she had a problem with women who have one after the other. Steve would tell me later that they had learned over many conversations that reason justifications and explanations for maintaining one's existing opinion can be endless, spawning like heads of a hydra. If you cut one away, two more would appear to take its place.
Deep canvassers want to avoid that unwinnable fight. To do that, they allow a person's just ations to remain unchallenged. They nod and listen. The idea is to move forward, make the person feel heard and understood, and eventually change their mind.

In this episode I read an excerpt from my new book How Minds Change, a portion concerning how to change minds about abortion rights, and Chris Clearfield interviews me about that very same book - which is out now and available everywhere.