A recent study on whether or not people accept the explanation of Evolution or Intelligent Design or possibly any other explanation of where it all comes from and how we came to being shows that reasoning has little to do with but that the real test is one’s gut feeling or intuitive emotional response which is sometimes mediated by faith and sometimes by something else but rarely is it mediated by rationale . . . http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/20/evolution-belief_n_1218529.html.

This is important as it tells us that educational programs that attempt to persuade via fact alone are less effective than those that appeal to emotional response. We see this in other issues like climate change and the existence of the Easter Bunny or other mythological figures as well.

As social influencers are often well aware, we make a decision based upon our gut and then rationalize later . . . yes, the old cognitive psychology adage comes around in dispute again.

- Brian

This entry was posted on January 21, 2012 at 11:53 am and is filed under Influence. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.