Why “Putting Yourself in Their Shoes” Reduces Openness to Attitude Change

From Perspective Taking and Self-Persuasion: Why “Putting Yourself in Their Shoes” Reduces Openness to Attitude Change by Rhia Catapano, Zakary L. Tormala, Derek D. Rucker.

I am not surprised, this is one of those zombie beliefs which keep resuscitating, regardless how many times they are shot down.

Given our well established inclination towards confirmation bias, changing positions (putting yourself in their shoes) is unlikely to change perspective. It can, but it tends to be relatively uncommon. If you want to change perspective, you generally have to change priors. Assumptions are the key.

My inclination is not to put myself in their shoes. I think a better framing is something along the lines of "What would I have to believe to be true if I am to believe that they believe their argument is true?" Only works if they are well informed, logical and are making an argument they actually do believe. Doesn't work when they are simply parroting something that sounds nice. But if you take them at face value, it does allow you insight into why they have arrived at the answer they have.

From the Abstract.

Counterattitudinal-argument generation is a powerful tool for opening people up to alternative views. On the basis of decades of research, it should be especially effective when people adopt the perspective of individuals who hold alternative views. In the current research, however, we found the opposite: In three preregistered experiments (total N = 2,734), we found that taking the perspective of someone who endorses a counterattitudinal view lowers receptiveness to that view and reduces attitude change following a counterattitudinal-argument-generation task. This ironic effect can be understood through value congruence: Individuals who take the opposition’s perspective generate arguments that are incongruent with their own values, which diminishes receptiveness and attitude change. Thus, trying to “put yourself in their shoes” can ultimately undermine self-persuasion. Consistent with a value-congruence account, this backfire effect is attenuated when people take the perspective of someone who holds the counterattitudinal view yet has similar overall values.

Interesting last sentence. If they have similar overall values, it is likely that they have some convergence of priors. Not necessarily, but probably.