Most people relish the idea of a good argument….the only problem is most have no idea how to set about doing it….they have these platitudes in their minds and that is as far as it goes….so the argument looks more like just a regurgitation of talking points rather than some intellectual exchange.

So begs to ask….do you know how to argue?

The Old Professor is here to help.

This is a fascinating article from Vox…..

Anyone who has argued with an opinionated relative or friend about immigration or gun control knows it is often impossible to sway someone with strong views.

That’s in part because our brains work hard to ensure the integrity of our worldview: We seek out information to confirm what we already know, and are dismissive or avoidant of facts that are hostile to our core beliefs.

But it’s not impossible to make your argument stick. And there’s been some good scientific work on this. Here are two strategies that, based on the evidence, seem promising.

https://www.vox.com/2016/11/23/13708996/argue-better-science

If that article did not help then maybe this one will….

Business professor Michael Norton and behavioral economist Dan Ariely have given us some hope to hang onto. Their research has showed that when stripped of partisan information, Americans’ description of an ideal society is remarkably similar regardless of political affiliation. They found that when we boil the issues down to core values, we tend to agree.

But we’re up against a massive force. Our modern political parties are powerful tribes through which we express our social identities and take cues on how to vote. Often, it’s more important to humans that they be accepted by their tribe than to be right. And it’s not even that irrational: evolutionarily, not being part of a tribe was a death sentence.

Given the fight we’re up against this November, we’ll need all the tools in our tool kit to change hearts and minds. We reviewed the literature on moral persuasion to help uncover clever strategies to use in debate. The hope is these tactics will help people have productive conversations with people we disgree with.

Here are five strategies to change someone’s mind (and your own). To illustrate each tactic we have used the example of how to argue for and against gun control.

https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/try-these-5-techniques-to-make-your-next-political-argument-fruitful/

If that was a bust for you I have one more aid in your political arguments to come…..

You’ve probably gotten in a political argument in the recent past, whether with your nutso cousin at Thanksgiving or your militantly ignorant co-worker at a happyhour.

And you’ll probably get in another political argument sometime in the near future. Hard as it may be to believe, you can actually win these arguments.

Here’s how.

1. Forget facts.
Psychologists who study political belief and persuasion think it’s adorable how obsessed argumentative people are with those cute little things called facts. When it comes to winning arguments, truthfulness and details simply don’t matter as much as we think theydo.

“People think emotionally, and they very often will have these gut moral intuitions that certain things are right or wrong,” said Matthew Feinberg, a psychologist at Stanford. The process of belief formation runs in the opposite direction than we’d hope: People “come to the conclusion first, and then the reasons they kind of pull out just to support theirbeliefs.”

 

This runs counter to a lot of what we learn when we’re writing term papers in school or reading our favorite authors, of course — in these contexts, logical precision is key. But when you’re engaging in a live argument with someone who views the world very differently than you do, it’s important not to get too hung up on factualaccuracy.

So how do you capitalize on this knowledge?

Readon.

https://www.thecut.com/2014/05/how-to-win-your-next-political-argument.html

There you have it…..you are armed to the teeth with techniques for your next debate/argument….it is up to you to wisely go forth and argue.

Be Smart!

Learn Stuff!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”