{"id":67122,"date":"2023-02-13T00:02:28","date_gmt":"2023-02-13T05:02:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/world.edu\/?p=67122"},"modified":"2023-02-13T00:02:28","modified_gmt":"2023-02-13T05:02:28","slug":"want-to-avoid-heated-arguments-try-this-technique-before-having-a-difficult-conversation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/want-to-avoid-heated-arguments-try-this-technique-before-having-a-difficult-conversation\/","title":{"rendered":"Want to avoid heated arguments? Try this technique before having a difficult conversation"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Listening to people talk about views that clash with your own can be galling. Families\u00a0all over the world<\/a>\u00a0avoid controversial topics.\u00a0In the UK<\/a>, for example, mention Brexit and watch everyone in the room tense up.<\/p>\n

But if you only speak to people who think the same way you do, you live in an echo chamber. Being around people who think differently from you can increase your self-awareness and\u00a0acceptance of others<\/a>\u00a0and is vital for learning. That\u2019s why we carried out\u00a0our recent study<\/a>\u00a0into whether focusing on your core values can help you engage more openly with others.<\/p>\n

Conflict is part of life. Difficult conversations\u00a0may feel uncomfortable<\/a>\u00a0but research shows there are things you can do to make talks with people who have directly opposing views more productive and less combative. For example,\u00a0one study published in 2019 found<\/a>\u00a0that reminding people they have more in common than they think with members of groups they dislike can diminish people\u2019s hostility towards those groups.<\/p>\n

Researchers have argued\u00a0receptiveness<\/a>\u00a0to opposing views and\u00a0intellectual humility<\/a>\u00a0lie at the heart of healthy debates.\u00a0Intellectual humility<\/a>\u00a0is owning or accepting your own shortcomings out of a genuine desire for\u00a0knowledge and truth<\/a>. It is about developing an increased awareness that you do not have all the answers and it is possible your views might be mistaken. An unassuming attitude\u00a0makes people more open<\/a>\u00a0to appreciating others\u2019 views. It doesn\u2019t mean you have to suspend critical thinking though.<\/p>\n

An open mind<\/strong><\/h4>\n

We tested whether there\u2019s a way to enhance intellectual humility. We used an approach called\u00a0values-affirmation<\/a>, in which people reflect on one or two cherished personal values, such as freedom, equality or family security.\u00a0Previous research<\/a>\u00a0found a brief period of reflection on personal values may increase people\u2019s sense of integrity when they feel threatened.\u00a0Contemplation also seems<\/a>\u00a0to make people more thoughtful and open-minded in response to text that challenges their views.<\/p>\n

In our experiment, we invited participants in groups of two or three to the lab. After completing a range of psychological questionnaires assessing personality, intellectual humility, and self-esteem, half of the participants were asked to reflect on their most important value (for example freedom and equality) by writing about the significance their chosen value has in their lives and how it informs their behaviour. The second group, the control group, instead wrote about their attitudes to beverages such as tea and coffee. Afterwards, participants took part in a 15-minute group discussion about the pros and cons of raising student tuition fees to pay for university education.<\/p>\n

Recordings of the debates were analysed by linguists from our team for conversational markers that indicate high or low intellectual humility. They coded participants\u2019 contributions to discussions along with several other features including tendency to dominate the discussion, to engage with others\u2019 opinions, or to convey their own convictions as certain, obvious and unchallengeable.<\/p>\n

Participants who reflected about their most important value engaged in the discussion in a more humble way compared to participants in the control group. For example, they were more supportive of other speakers even when they were at odds; they tended to avoid dominating discussions; they were less likely to treat their own opinions as facts. Afterwards we asked participants to rate how they much they were feeling different emotions on a five-point scale (ranging from very slightly to extremely). The values-affirmation group reported feeling more empathic, giving, grateful, and humble compared to the control group.<\/p>\n

Broaden your horizons<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Our research showed how a simple intervention can enhance intellectual humility in conversations. More than half (60.6% of participants) in the values-affirmation group showed more intellectual humility in debate than the average person in the control condition. This finding, as well as the enhanced feelings of tolerance people experienced, suggest reflecting on values can improve the quality of discussions on controversial issues.<\/p>\n

Many conversations about controversial issues happen online, however. Face-to-face dialogue is very different from online communication, particularly when the people involved don\u2019t know each other or obscure their identity. In theory, an intervention that supports intellectual humility in face-to-face dialogue may help online dialogue, but we can\u2019t be sure without more research. If one thing is clear from science it\u2019s that we shouldn\u2019t avoid discussions about controversial topics, but we do need to change the way we approach them.<\/p>\n

Author Bios: <\/strong>Paul Hanel is a Research Assistant Professor at the University of Essex, Alessandra Tanesini is Professor of Philosophy at Cardiff University and Gregory R. Maio is Professor of Psychology at the University of Bath<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Listening to people talk about views that clash with your own can be galling. Families\u00a0all over the world\u00a0avoid controversial topics.\u00a0In the UK, for example, mention Brexit and watch everyone in the room tense up. But if you only speak to people who think the same way you do, you live in an echo chamber. Being […]\n… learn more→<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[95],"tags":[428897],"coauthors":[11733],"class_list":["post-67122","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-lifestyle","tag-arguments"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWant to avoid heated arguments? Try this technique before having a difficult conversation - World leading higher education information and services<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/want-to-avoid-heated-arguments-try-this-technique-before-having-a-difficult-conversation\/\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Want to avoid heated arguments? Try this technique before having a difficult conversation - World leading higher education information and services\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Listening to people talk about views that clash with your own can be galling. Families\u00a0all over the world\u00a0avoid controversial topics.\u00a0In the UK, for example, mention Brexit and watch everyone in the room tense up. But if you only speak to people who think the same way you do, you live in an echo chamber. Being […]\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/want-to-avoid-heated-arguments-try-this-technique-before-having-a-difficult-conversation\/\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"World leading higher education information and services\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-02-13T05:02:28+00:00\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/heated-argument.png\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kevin\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kevin\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/want-to-avoid-heated-arguments-try-this-technique-before-having-a-difficult-conversation\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/want-to-avoid-heated-arguments-try-this-technique-before-having-a-difficult-conversation\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Kevin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee\"},\"headline\":\"Want to avoid heated arguments? Try this technique before having a difficult conversation\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-02-13T05:02:28+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/want-to-avoid-heated-arguments-try-this-technique-before-having-a-difficult-conversation\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":779,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/want-to-avoid-heated-arguments-try-this-technique-before-having-a-difficult-conversation\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/02\\\/heated-argument.png\",\"keywords\":[\"arguments\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Lifestyle\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/want-to-avoid-heated-arguments-try-this-technique-before-having-a-difficult-conversation\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/want-to-avoid-heated-arguments-try-this-technique-before-having-a-difficult-conversation\\\/\",\"name\":\"Want to avoid heated arguments? Try this technique before having a difficult conversation - World leading higher education information and services\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/want-to-avoid-heated-arguments-try-this-technique-before-having-a-difficult-conversation\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/want-to-avoid-heated-arguments-try-this-technique-before-having-a-difficult-conversation\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/02\\\/heated-argument.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-02-13T05:02:28+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/want-to-avoid-heated-arguments-try-this-technique-before-having-a-difficult-conversation\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/want-to-avoid-heated-arguments-try-this-technique-before-having-a-difficult-conversation\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/want-to-avoid-heated-arguments-try-this-technique-before-having-a-difficult-conversation\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/02\\\/heated-argument.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/02\\\/heated-argument.png\",\"width\":680,\"height\":446},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/want-to-avoid-heated-arguments-try-this-technique-before-having-a-difficult-conversation\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Want to avoid heated arguments? Try this technique before having a difficult conversation\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/\",\"name\":\"World leading higher education information and services\",\"description\":\"Global Higher Education Jobs, University jobs, Lecturer & tenure jobs.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee\",\"name\":\"Kevin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g8ba4c352a279c450aa9435d770c1ebf4\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Kevin\"},\"description\":\"Kevin is founder of the world.edu project. The past 28 years have been involved in publishing to the education sector in print and the internet. Kevin has a degree in Education and has a many years experience in developing companies and projects.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/author\\\/kevin\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Want to avoid heated arguments? Try this technique before having a difficult conversation - World leading higher education information and services","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/world.edu\/want-to-avoid-heated-arguments-try-this-technique-before-having-a-difficult-conversation\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Want to avoid heated arguments? Try this technique before having a difficult conversation - World leading higher education information and services","og_description":"Listening to people talk about views that clash with your own can be galling. Families\u00a0all over the world\u00a0avoid controversial topics.\u00a0In the UK, for example, mention Brexit and watch everyone in the room tense up. But if you only speak to people who think the same way you do, you live in an echo chamber. Being […]","og_url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/want-to-avoid-heated-arguments-try-this-technique-before-having-a-difficult-conversation\/","og_site_name":"World leading higher education information and services","article_published_time":"2023-02-13T05:02:28+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/heated-argument.png","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Kevin","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Kevin","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/want-to-avoid-heated-arguments-try-this-technique-before-having-a-difficult-conversation\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/want-to-avoid-heated-arguments-try-this-technique-before-having-a-difficult-conversation\/"},"author":{"name":"Kevin","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#\/schema\/person\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee"},"headline":"Want to avoid heated arguments? Try this technique before having a difficult conversation","datePublished":"2023-02-13T05:02:28+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/want-to-avoid-heated-arguments-try-this-technique-before-having-a-difficult-conversation\/"},"wordCount":779,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/want-to-avoid-heated-arguments-try-this-technique-before-having-a-difficult-conversation\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/heated-argument.png","keywords":["arguments"],"articleSection":["Lifestyle"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/want-to-avoid-heated-arguments-try-this-technique-before-having-a-difficult-conversation\/","url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/want-to-avoid-heated-arguments-try-this-technique-before-having-a-difficult-conversation\/","name":"Want to avoid heated arguments? Try this technique before having a difficult conversation - World leading higher education information and services","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/want-to-avoid-heated-arguments-try-this-technique-before-having-a-difficult-conversation\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/want-to-avoid-heated-arguments-try-this-technique-before-having-a-difficult-conversation\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/heated-argument.png","datePublished":"2023-02-13T05:02:28+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#\/schema\/person\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/want-to-avoid-heated-arguments-try-this-technique-before-having-a-difficult-conversation\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/world.edu\/want-to-avoid-heated-arguments-try-this-technique-before-having-a-difficult-conversation\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/want-to-avoid-heated-arguments-try-this-technique-before-having-a-difficult-conversation\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/heated-argument.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/heated-argument.png","width":680,"height":446},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/want-to-avoid-heated-arguments-try-this-technique-before-having-a-difficult-conversation\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/world.edu\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Want to avoid heated arguments? Try this technique before having a difficult conversation"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#website","url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/","name":"World leading higher education information and services","description":"Global Higher Education Jobs, University jobs, Lecturer & tenure jobs.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/world.edu\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#\/schema\/person\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee","name":"Kevin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g8ba4c352a279c450aa9435d770c1ebf4","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Kevin"},"description":"Kevin is founder of the world.edu project. The past 28 years have been involved in publishing to the education sector in print and the internet. Kevin has a degree in Education and has a many years experience in developing companies and projects.","sameAs":["https:\/\/world.edu"],"url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/author\/kevin\/"}]}},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67122","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67122"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67122\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":67124,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67122\/revisions\/67124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67122"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=67122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}