As we hear ad nauseum, we live in a time of almost unprecedented political polarization. The easiest response is to tune out, to retreat to our respective camps. But one consequence of doing that is that we make no headway on our most pressing problems. Can anything be done? 1/ 
There is actually a growing scholarly literature that speaks to this question. In the last chapter of my just-published UNDER THE INFLUENCE: PUTTING PEER PRESSURE TO WORK, I describe some of what researchers have learned. The first lesson concerns how to avoid doing harm. 2/
Perversely, attempts to explain why opponents should embrace your point of view often serve only to reinforce disagreement. Whenever Al Gore would announce a new study about warming trends, for example, skeptics’ opposition to mitigation policies would typically harden. 3/
Psychotherapists report, similarly, that telling a woman she is in an abusive relationship often sparks a defensive reaction, one that may actually increase her likelihood of remaining with her partner. 4/
Yet progress is possible. Researchers have shown, for instance, that conversations that enable others to conclude for themselves that action is warranted tend to be far more effective than trying to persuade them to embrace your point of view. 5/
Thus, as domestic violence counselors report, a far more successful approach is simply asking victims to describe their relationships. In response, they’ll often portray them in ways that make it difficult not to see clearly that things aren’t right. 6/
Consider also the history of attempts to persuade voters to support greater investment in infrastructure. President Obama and Elizabeth Warren both gave 2012 speeches in which they attempted to remind successful business owners of the importance of such investment. 7/
They reminded entrepreneurs that they had shipped their goods to market on tax-financed roadways, hired workers trained in public schools, were protected by community-sponsored police and firefighters, and enjoyed various other advantages under our free-enterprise system. 8/
In return, they said, successful entrepreneurs should invest in the next generation’s opportunities to succeed. Yet many listeners heard a different message--that they couldn’t claim credit for their successes and weren’t really entitled to the lofty positions they held. 9/
Both quickly became known as the “you-didn’t-build-that” speeches. Video excerpts went viral, spawning millions of outraged comments. 10/
If we instead ask whether successful people can remember examples of good fortune they might have enjoyed while moving up, they don’t get angry or defensive; rather, they seem to enjoy thinking about the question and take evident pleasure in recalling relevant examples. 11/
Describing one example often kindles the memory of another. And in the wake of describing several such lucky breaks, successful entrepreneurs often volunteer suggestions about additional public investments we ought to be making. 12/
People's impressions from recent job interviews, first dates, or work meetings are also instructive. As researchers report, people emerging from these meetings often say things like, “I wish I had been asked more questions.” 13/
Questioning has also been a core element in Western philosophic traditions since the time of Socrates. Learning theorists explain that we absorb information more effectively when we reason our way to a conclusion actively rather than when someone else states it for us. 14/
In my own experience outside the classroom, a vivid illustration of the power of self-explanation came in conversations with opponents of the Affordable Care Act, who invariably liked some features of the act but were vehemently opposed to others. 15/
A popular feature was that insurers had to make health coverage available at the same rates for all participants, even those with pre-existing conditions. But such conditions often generate millions of dollars in annual medical bills. 16/
The feature that Obamacare opponents most bitterly disliked was the program's mandate, under which those who elected not to buy coverage were required to pay a fine. 17/
Drafters of the Affordable Care Act tried repeatedly to explain why insurers couldn’t cover people with pre-existing conditions without the mandate. Those attempts, however, were spectacularly unsuccessful, even though the underlying concepts were not at all complex. 18/
My experience in conversations with Obamacare opponents demonstrated the power of asking the following simple question: What would happen to home insurers if the government forced them to offer fire insurance at affordable rates to people whose homes had already burned down? 19/
The question answers itself. Fire insurance now costs only several hundred dollars a year, so if companies were forced to offer policies at these rates to people whose homes had already burned down, no one would buy them unless their homes had, in fact, already burned down. 20/
Because each policy sold would then obligate the insurer to replace a home costing several hundred thousand dollars, insurers would quickly go out of business. The fire insurance market works only because insurers know that most homes they cover won’t burn down. 21/
That’s how insurers know that the revenue from selling thousands of policies at reasonable prices will be sufficient to cover the cost of replacing the occasional home that is lost. But an unregulated market for health insurance can’t work the same way. 22/
With no additional coaxing, people who confront the question just described see immediately that patients with pre-existing conditions are exactly like the people whose houses have already burned down. 23/
And from there it's only the smallest possible step to see why insurers can’t cover these patients unless they’re part of a pool that consists mostly of healthy people; and why, therefore, the mandate was an essential feature of Obamacare. 24/
UNDER THE INFLUENCE: PUTTING PEER PRESSURE TO WORK is about behavioral contagion. It describes simple steps that could ignite conversations that would help solve many of the most pressing problems we face, chief among them, the climate crisis. 25/
amazon.com/dp/B07XKFLWCT/…
amazon.com/dp/B07XKFLWCT/…
