A few years back, I wrote a couple of pieces for this blog on how to change people’s minds, even if what they believe is categorically wrong. Cook and Lewandowsky’s (2011) debunking handbook was discussed as a potential set of guidelines, as were considerations over people’s existing cognitive schemas, (emotional) relationship with the erroneous information, and willingness and disposition towards thinking. I also wrote about how it’s important to consider changing your own mind about things, which, unfortunately, is often just as difficult a task.

A useful way of looking at changing one’s mind isn’t about being wrong; rather, it is a means of updating your knowledge. An example I often refer to applies here: recall a time when we were taught that there were nine planets in our solar system. Then, in 2006, Pluto was reclassified as a dwarf planet, leaving us with the updated knowledge that there are eight planets. It’s not that scientists were wrong and couldn’t count the celestial bodies; instead, they were able to amass so much additional information about the nature of things that they could change their minds for the betterment of knowledge. As such, changing one’s mind is about improvement. It is a step in the right direction. Of course, not everyone approaches the concept of changing their minds in this........

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