Changing Minds: The Art and Science of Changing Our Own and Other People's Minds - Hardcover

Howard Gardner

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1578517095 ISBN 13: 9781578517091

Publisher: Harvard Business Review Press, 2004

Synopsis

Think about the last time you tried to change someone’s mind about something important: a voter’s political beliefs; a customer’s favorite brand; a spouse’s decorating taste. Chances are you weren’t successful in shifting that person’s beliefs in any way. In his book, Changing Minds, Harvard psychologist Howard Gardner explains what happens during the course of changing a mind – and offers ways to influence that process.

Remember that we don’t change our minds overnight, it happens in gradual stages that can be powerfully influenced along the way. This book provides insights that can broaden our horizons and shape our lives.

About this title

About the Author

Howard Gardner is the Hobbs Professor of Cognition and Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

From the Inside Flap

What Does It Take to Change a Mind?

Think about the last time you tried to change someone s mind about something important: a voter s political beliefs; a customer s favorite brand; a spouse s decorating taste; a teenager s attitude toward schoolwork. Chances are you weren t successful in shifting that person s beliefs in a significant way. For an endeavor so commonly mentioned and frequently attempted, why is the phenomenon of changing minds so mysterious? How do people become set on a certain way of thinking? And what, exactly, does it take to change that perspective?

In this groundbreaking book, world-renowned Harvard psychologist Howard Gardner offers surprising insights on this fascinating puzzle insights that could change the way we interact with others at work, at home, and in every aspect of our lives. Gardner, whose work over the last thirty years has revolutionized our thinking about intelligence, creativity, and leadership, now suggests that traditional thinking about mind change as a sudden "epiphany" is entirely wrong. Instead, Gardner shows, we change our minds gradually, in identifiable ways that can be actively and powerfully influenced.

Drawing on decades of cognitive research, Gardner identifies seven levers that aid or thwart the process of mind change, including reason, research, real-world events, and resistances. Changing Minds provides an original framework illustrated with famous and ordinary examples of "change agents" in politics, business, science, the arts, and everyday life that shows how individuals can align these levers to bring about significant changes in perspective and behavior. From Margaret Thatcher s reorientation of Great Britain to Sir John Browne s transformation of BP to Charles Darwin s evolutionary revolution to interactions between spouses or friends to decisions to change one s own mind, Gardner uncovers surprising similarities and instructive differences among the factors that affect mind change in a variety of settings.

Demystifying a phenomenon that permeates human behavior, Changing Minds provides insights that can broaden our horizons and improve our lives.

Reviews

Gardner, a psychologist and professor at Harvard, examines the factors involved in changing minds on significant issues, in politics, science, business and art. He identifies seven key elements, including reason, research and real world events, that are part of the decision-making process. Certain facets are more heavily weighted in some fields than others: "leaders of large groups often rely on the appreciable resources at their disposal but are buoyed or undercut by real world events," says Gardner (Frames of Mind), who believes this explains why a politician or a CEO will disregard advice in the face of larger issues and popular perceptions. To prove his theories, Gardner analyzes the behavior of several individuals including President Bush, Britain's Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair, and South Africa's Nelson Mandela. Gardner doesn't limit his examination to politicians because he also believes that artists, writers, musicians and teachers can change people's minds. While the discussions and real-life examples are intriguing and do clarify Gardner's theories, the book doesn't fully deliver on its promise. Although Gardner does offer suggestions on how someone can influence others, he doesn't include a detailed prescriptive strategy for decision makers in the business world. Readers must draw out insights on their own, which, given the complexity of the material, may be difficult.
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Edition details

• Publisher: Harvard Business Review Press
• Publication date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1578517095
• ISBN 13: 9781578517091
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 288