Changing Minds

This term, we’ve worked to change minds about a best fuel balance for the world. In Changing Minds, Howard Gardner listed several elements that are crucial to changing minds on our website. While the term is almost over, our website can still improve based on these elements.

            First, Gardner states that “one should begin by determining what is the present (current) content- be it an idea, a concept, a story, a theory, a skill- and what is the desired content. Once the desired content has been identified, the various competing countercontents must be specified.” (209) Our present content focuses on presenting the facts about energy sources, and suggesting a best fuel balance for the future. In my opinion, desirable content for our website would include more of a focus on the future capabilities of renewable energy and well as more scientific research in order to establish energy percentages for the future. Countercontent that could prevent this from happening would include a lack of involvement from students after the term has ended and an inability to produce any real scientific research that could verify that our future energy percentages are viable.

            Gardner also says that we need to determine the size and type of audience that we will be working with. Currently, our website caters to an audience that would probably live in Portland and already be interested in sustainability. It is probably not a large audience; therefore, we need to approach the website from an individual perspective. As the website grows, we can work to tell powerful stories that reach out to large audiences. I believe that we should approach our type of audience from the perspective suggested by Gardner and assume that we might be dealing with the “unschooled mind.” With that in consideration, simple stories would work best. As we have a lack of those on the website, we should consider implementing them. Perhaps a short and humorous story about how one of us switched over to a more sustainable lifestyle would really reinforce the content we’re trying to promote.

            However, we still need to use Gardner’s key mind-changing levers: specifically, when “reason (often buttressed with research), reinforcement through multiple forms of representation, real world events, resonance, and resources all push in one direction- and resistances can be identified and successfully countered.” (211)

            Finally, we need to remember that we must remain ethical, and use goodware to achieve our goals. We “must continue to believe that the will is free and that individuals can make a difference.” (211) We can make a difference with the website that we’ve created. All minds can be changed. We must remember that the project is something that spans beyond just a term.

Post by Alexandra West

Gardner, Howard. Changing Minds. Massachusetts: Harvard Business School Publishing, 2006.