PRINCIPLE 5: BE FLEXIBLY CONSISTENT
In 1994, Duke University’s Dr. Wendy Wood and her colleagues used a powerful statistical tool to synthesize 143 experiments that examined the capacity of minorities to exert influence (yes, we’ve been studying this for some time!). The single best thing a minority could do was: present a consistent message over time. If a minority caved and showed signs of inconsistency—or worse, hypocrisy—she lost. The existence of stable, consistent messages over time is the greatest predictor of whether principled insubordination successfully shifts others’ beliefs.
To affect change, you must come across as—and ideally, actually be—a true believer. When change is challenging, audiences look for reasons not to engage, including times when rebels hedged on their positions, showing a lack of conviction. But when audiences perceive a rebel as the living embodiment of a cause, they can’t help but be impressed. Tying back to Principle 4, consistency means that rebels will likely incur social costs and persecution because of the deep commitment they feel to their cause. And yet, as we saw earlier, true believers can’t just ram their ideas down others’ throats, lest they alienate their audience and spark fear (Principle 2). The answer is flexible consistency.
THE BIG IDEA
Some issues might be so important to you that you’ll be willing to die for them. Others, not so much. Know the difference and stick by it.
When pursuing important goals, consistency is vital. Rebels must stubbornly cling to their positions, and they must convey a united front as a group—even a single defection compromises their credibility. On issues that seem less important to you, try to bend. Be willing to concede a point (research shows that small concessions encourage others to reciprocate generously). Show genuine concern for members of the old guard. Empathize with the effort and sacrifices required on their part to change. Leave opponents feeling great about their interactions with you. Show them respect. You’ll find, as researchers have, that such efforts on your part will inure others to your perspective, allowing them to admire all the more your consistent advocacy.
CHANGE CAN HAPPEN—IF YOU LET IT
As we’ve seen in this chapter, rebels don’t need to flail helplessly when trying to bring others around to their point of view. A new body of scientific evidence shows us how to increase the odds that our principled ideas will sway proponents of the status quo: Present ourselves as insiders. Spark curiosity as opposed to fear. Convey what elements of what you believe in are objectively true. Evoke an impression of courageous self-sacrifice. Behave in ways that are flexibly consistent. None of this is particularly hard to do. We just have to take a bit of time when presenting our idea to think about our audience, empathize with their fears and needs, and tweak our presentations accordingly. Fugazi did it, and so can you!
Applying insights from the science of principled insubordination doesn’t guarantee success. You might diligently deploy these techniques and still not obtain your intended outcomes. Don’t despair: your impact may be greater than you think. Lasting change is slow, frequently bubbling below the surface as others contemplate whatever you said or presented. Confronted with new ideas, a few members of the establishment will throw caution to the wind and leave their existing ideas behind. Many more will publicly stick with the status quo while privately experiencing seeds of doubt. It’s psychologically difficult to change our identities, especially if a long paper trail of public proclamations exists that documents what we believe, like, and dislike. The first reaction to a new idea will usually be neither positive nor negative, but rather ambivalent—a mixture of resistance and intrigue, confusion and sadness, hope and disappointment.
Such ambivalence isn’t a bad thing. Members of the majority will naturally feel uncertain and want to resolve that uncertainty by contemplating the costs and benefits of changing course. If as a rebel you instill just enough uncertainty, audiences might feel impelled to give your idea a fair shot, if only to avoid regretting their failure to do so later. Over time, ambivalence resolves, and opinions and behavior change—scientists call this the “sleeper effect.” Researchers found that ambivalence toward unexpected messages from atypical minority sources is an early harbinger of change. Ambivalent people update their beliefs upon downloading sufficient enough knowledge to determine whether an idea is a good one or not. Thanks to the advocacy of minorities, individuals, groups, and societies can gain that knowledge, revising and improving in turn.
As a rebel, you want change now. I get that, but it won’t usually happen that way. When it does happen, however, the change tends to be lasting. Because members of the majority hold power, they can often compel people to comply with their ideas. But they struggle with converting people on a deep level. Rebels can convert members of the majority. Initially, rebels might simply succeed in dislodging some of the conceptual frameworks that underlie majority thinking. Later, as members of the majority scrutinize dissenting positions, they come to agree more. Evidence mounts, and the rebels seem more credible, their formulations more influential. Behavior starts to change, subtly at first, then more overtly.
Research has confirmed that members of an in-group minority can influence a group to change their position not just when their message is heard, but later, when the message is fully internalized. After hearing activists advocate the banning of animal experimentation, we might not sign up for their late-night Molotov cocktail throwing event at a perfume company’s laboratory. But we listen. And we think. Soon, we start boycotting perfume. We publicly denounce television shows and websites that promote perfumes through paid advertisements. We vote for politicians who seek an end to animal testing. Change happens, imperceptibly but inexorably.
As a rebel, you must stay strong. Individual results vary, and race, sex, gender, and visible personality features factor into how your expressions of principled insubordination are interpreted by others. Don’t expect to be liked. Play the long game. Aim for evolution, not revolution. And make the five principles your bible. Mainstream thinking does evolve. With each act of principled insubordination that takes hold, we move closer to a better world. As a rebel, it’s your calling and privilege to be the agent of that change. Embrace that mission.
And here’s some good news: you don’t need to do it alone. To enhance your chances of success, you can enlist others to get in the trenches with you and fight. As we’ll see in the next chapter, certain strategies can enhance your ability to win over key allies. New scientific research on how to optimize social relationships for effective disobedience offers helpful answers for well-intentioned, principled people seeking to topple misguided mainstream thinking.
RECIPE STEPS
1. Devote energy to establishing common bonds with fellow group members, supporting group norms, and adding to the positive group identity. You gain what social scientists refer to as “idiosyncrasy credits.” You can “spend” this cultural capital on social support and a fair hearing.
2. Signal your courage. Principled insubordinates can alter perceptions by publicizing the personal sacrifices they made in bucking the system. Of course, don’t go overboard, as that will backfire.
3. Don’t expect to dazzle everyone right away with your non-conformist idea. Initial reactions to a new idea are usually neither positive nor negative, but ambivalent. If as a rebel you instill enough uncertainty about conventional wisdom, your audience might feel impelled to give your idea a fair shot.
CHAPTER 5
Attract People Who’ve Got Your Back
How to off-load some of the pressure while defying the status quo
It’s bright and early on a summer morning, and you’re about to embark on a three-day hiking trip. You’re new to hiking, and frankly, any form of exercise that doesn’t involve walking from the couch to the fridge and back again. Physical exertion just isn’t your thing. But your doctor said to bring down that stratospheric cholesterol, so now, reluctantly, you’re getting in shape. You’ve got new hiking boots, UV-resistant clothing, and a backpack loaded with thirty pounds of food and three different kinds of bug spray. You’re ready. Or are you? Reaching the trailhead, you’re chagrined to find it’s located at the base of a pretty big-ass hill—as in, a mountain. How will you ever carry a thirty-pound pack up that beast, and then keep going for another three days?
We can’t work on the physical fitness portion of that dilemma—this isn’t that kind of book. But I can share knowledge that might make difficult tasks of any kind—including daring acts of principled insubordination—much easier motivationally. In a fascinating bit of research, Dr. Dennis Proffitt at the University of Virginia escorted people to the bottom of a hill in preparation for a hike. Dr. Dennis Proffitt and his team found that participants in their study greatly overestimated the steepness and difficulty of the climb before them. Although the hill only rose at a 10-degree angle, they pegged the rise at 30 degrees. Researchers then asked people to approach the hill wearing a backpack loaded with weights. The hill seemed even steeper. When out-of-shape people approached the hill, they viewed that very same 10-degree ascent as steeper still.
Such misperception owes to a subtle budgeting decision on the brain’s part. To survive, our bodies evolved to conserve the expenditure of metabolic energy. When confronted with a task, our brains calculate how much energy we’d use up by performing that action, and how much we’d use up by pursuing reasonable alternatives. Judging the height of the hill to be greater is our brain’s way of nudging us to prioritize options that will leave us less enervated. In effect, laziness is our species’ secret survival mechanism (for bosses out there, maybe not-so-secret).
There is another, quite fascinating dimension of this laziness. Proffitt had participants stare up at that hill in the company of a trustworthy friend. Incredibly, these participants judged the same hill to be 13 percent less steep, and they expended less energy mounting it than people who viewed the hill without a friend. The physical challenge seemed easier. The mere presence of a trusted friend shifted visual perceptions of reality, leaving participants more confident they could surmount this physical obstacle. This isn’t some bizarre experimental result. Other research found that men in the company of friends exposed to a bearded terrorist pointing a gun at them perceived the terrorist as smaller in stature, less muscular, and less worrisome than men standing alone.
Friends are essential helpmates when we face trials and tribulations. This, too, has to do with how our brains are wired; we have a tendency to leech off our friends so as to sustain our laziness. It’s not especially heroic, but we base decisions about how to invest physical and mental resources with reference to a “social baseline”—our perceived proximity to trusted, reliable social relationships. Confronted by a task, we run a quick mental scan to determine whether we can access helpful social resources. If so, we get a performance boost. Our brains interpret the presence of an ally as an extra pair of hands and set of lobes to help carry the load when taking on mental, physical, and social challenges. Whew—we can relax a little! Our allies are literally encoded as part of the “self” in our brains. We assume our buddies will shoulder part of the load, cueing our brains to scale back and conserve metabolic energy. We literally, not metaphorically, borrow the resources of close, trustworthy allies as our own.
Just like climbing a hill or confronting someone who physically threatens you, bucking the system and trying to persuade people to accept a new idea sucks up a shit-ton of mental juice. With trusted allies by our side, we off-load some of the pressure in preparing to defy the status quo. One of our friends will remind us about the importance of opening with points that others in the room can agree upon. Somebody will offer us a reassuring smile or nod of encouragement while we’re talking. Another somebody will help us counter an unforeseen objection raised by a skeptic. With allies, we need not remember everything. We need not say everything right. We need not be the master of all trades. The question for would-be rebels, then, is how best to seek out and retain allies who are most likely to help us. Science points us to three basic principles.
THE BIG IDEA
You don’t need to change the world on your own. Enlist trusted allies to support you through the tough times.
PRINCIPLE 1: MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR SOCIAL CAPITAL
If you’re a rebel seeking allies, you want to be discerning about whom you select, albeit in a counterintuitive way. You might presume it’s to your advantage as an outsider to seek out people based on how much influence, power, wealth, or access to privileged information they possess. Yes, the rich and powerful can be very nice friends to have. If you’re going to hatch a plan to win the majority over to your beliefs, it’s more pleasant to do so on your ally’s two-hundred-foot, jacuzzi–equipped, super-yacht moored in the Galápagos (not that I would know). But science suggests you’d do better seeking out allies who’ll enhance your intellectual or emotional capabilities. Will a person contribute insight and wisdom, boost your ability to pose better questions, help you solve problems, or expand your sense of self? Then they’re a great candidate to recruit as an ally, irrespective of how much money or power they possess. If you’re rebelling against the status quo, it’s essential to expand the self by entering into close relationships with other people. Evidence-based self-improvement books are great for self-expansion. Same with documentaries (especially The Imposter, Spellbound, and Searching for Sugar Man). But the quickest, most effective way to stretch and strengthen the self is through relationships.
Such advice in turn means rebels should seek out people who are different than they are to become trusted allies. If someone eats the same foods, reads the same books, listens to the same music, and circulates in the same social set as you, they’ll likely think the same. You’ll feel validated, but you won’t enhance your capabilities. You know that old slogan “great minds think alike”? No, they don’t. Great minds (in alliances) think differently.
THE BIG IDEA
Seek out people who complement you. Partners who are interesting, challenging, and a source of enlightenment. You want people who’ll blow your mind—in a good way—on account of their ability to introduce you to new ideas and perspectives.
Also, seek out allies who can expand your emotional reach. Dr. Elaine Cheung advanced the concept of “emotionships,” or the presence of specific people who help you manage particular emotions. The more allies you count who can help address different emotional needs, the greater your life satisfaction and, potentially, your effectiveness as a rebel. Along those same lines, look for allies who can serve as what the University of Michigan’s Dr. Kim Cameron calls “net positive energizers.” Some people leave you charged up after you spend time around them. Others sap your energy to the point that you want to curl up into a ball and avoid the human species (while consuming copious amounts of whiskey). You want the energizers by your side as you’re taking on power-hungry authority figures, not the Debbie Downers. Net positive energizers show interest in you, build relationships with you, follow through on commitments, are alert to new possibilities, and are curious in the face of disagreements. They encourage you to experiment, take risks, and innovate. Net positive energizers are Red Bull for personal growth—yours. The Emotionships Test
Do you have people in your life to help you regulate important emotions you might experience? Who in your social network will reliably:
cheer you up?
boost your energy supply?
soothe your nerves until you feel calm?
bring out your playful side?
