TECHNIQUES researched by behavioural psychologists could be used to persuade people to vote for Scottish independence, the Sunday National can reveal.
Already used in health and advertising campaigns, the tactics could easily be adapted in the run-up to another referendum, according to two leading psychologists. While changing the minds of those with very entrenched views is extremely difficult, there are techniques that can be employed to sway those who do not hold such strong opinions, they said.
“These are the tools which are used in terms of vaccination, health campaigns, reducing speeding or reducing theft and studies show they broadly work,” said organisational psychologist Dr Rob Yeung.
Research shows that people tend to ignore statistics, so they are less effective at convincing others to change their minds, according to Yeung.
“Economic benefits or costs are not really the right thing to focus on,” he said. “What people respond to more are stories about other human beings, especially stories about people like themselves. If you hear stories about people like you from a similar background and the process they have gone through of changing one way or another, that can quite often be more influential than facts.”
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Chris Hand, senior lecturer in psychology at the University of Glasgow, said people could try to effect behavioural and attitudinal change through an emotional approach or by supplying information but a bit of both would probably be needed to convince others. Consistency is key in an informational approach, he said, and if achieved it would act like the steady drip of water that erodes a rock if it continues for long enough.
Hand added that the emotional approach could also work but the effect tended to be more transient, meaning that it is best to ramp it up closer to the day of action in a campaign. Hostility and negativity are unlikely to work and, instead, people should listen with respect to other’s opinions before carefully presenting an evidence-based counter argument, according to Dr Hand.
He told the Sunday National that those wanting to change other people’s views could not just sit back and hope the other side would slip up but should develop policy and communication methods as early as possible so that campaigners could show a realistic outcome for their claims, while still being careful not to promise what cannot be delivered.
FULL REPORT: Psychologists on how to win referendums and influence people
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