A 10-minute conversation can change someone’s anti-trans views, study finds
A study has found that speaking to someone about their political views on trans issues for ten minutes can change their views.
Research published in the Science journal this week found that a ten-minute face-to-face conversation can change 1-in-10 voters’ minds on trans issues.
The model is expected to be used as a template for canvassing on particular issues.
It would allow those to reach out to people with opposing beliefs.
The findings also back up a method developed by the Los Angeles LGBT Center forged following the passage of Proposition 8 in California back in 2008.
The study was based on canvassing which took place in 2015, and which saw people knock on voters’ doors and engage in what is called “analogic perspective talking”.
They would ask the voter to recall a time when they felt they had been treated unfairly, for example because they were seen as different.
The study also found that the effect of the change in opinion can last for as long as three months after the initial conversation.
Lab director, David Fleischer said rarely had such research into the lasting effects of canvassing taken place.
The efforts were made to measure the effectiveness of canvassing, particularly for legislation or ordinances against transgender rights.
There has recently been a spate of legislation across the US, which aims to restrict the right of transgender people to be protected under the law, or to restrict their rights to use gender-appropriate facilities.
The analogic perspective taking made the canvassing much more effective, in particular to gain support for legislation to protect LGBT people.
While researchers speculated that when a respondent is faced with a trans person, they might be more likely to respond positively and to change their mind, the analogic perspective taking meant that the canvasser did not need to be trans.
Check out a video from the LGBT Center, about the research, here:
