A netfriend wrote:

So let me repeat .... arguments don't work, being nice and loving doesn't work. How DOES one deal with closed-minded creationists?

I replied:

For my sins I did a Masters' degree on just this question. Briefly: attitude-change and becoming less fearful of 'cognitive dissonance' happens primarily in relationships.

In general terms I think the key questions/variables are:

1. The opinion-holder's psychological profile, particularly their 'persuasibility'

2. Group-membership and group norms. What groups did/do they belong to and what in those groups reinforces or frees up their ideas/attitudes?

3. Opinion Leaders. Whose opinions to they follow and why? If those highly-respected leaders change their minds this can be either catastrophic (more cognitive dissonance) or freeing...

4. Source credibility (related to the above, but not quite the same)

5. Role-playing. If someone speaks to an audience on a point of view that view is reinforced (a bit simplistic... but you get the drift. That's why Fundamentalists and others are strong on new converts giving 'testimonies')...

6. Monopoly propaganda: they've never really been exposed to alternative theories/beliefs. Cults know this.

7. Predispositions: what is the person's pre-existing world-view, values, etc.?

Suggestion: go to a remainders bookshop and buy a couple of texts on Social Psychology. Read the chapters on Attitude Formation and Change etc.

I finished the four years of study in all this a little more optimistic that many/most 'concrete' thinkers can become more 'formal' (a la Piaget) and maybe even live with a bit of amguity, given the right pedagogical circumstances. But some have a predisposition against ambiguity - and that's unfornately not necessarily correlated with IQ.

Shalom! Rowland Croucher

February 2005