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Want people to do the right thing? Save them the guilt trip

psyche.co

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Re: Want people to do the right thing? Save them the guilt trip

#11

Post by aaron695 »

Barrin92 wrote: post #8

"The potential of positive self-directed emotions has largely not been embraced by activists. The worry could be that it might make those engaging in the cause appear self-satisfied or selfish. But these studies suggest that, instead of focusing on ‘doom and gloom’ messaging that zooms in on people’s shortcomings and risks alienating them, policymakers and strategists might find that positive messaging, speaking to p…

What about health fads.

Eating all meat is great for you. You'll feel better. They seem pretty successful.

Church and religion, I would say mostly works on positivity.

The argument would be these campaigns degrade to negativity. This certainly seems like it's playing out. Movement X goes more extreme. The internal members chose negativity over positivity.

The stereotype of the Chinese is they will work towards a common goal but leave a traffic accident victim on the street. Not sure how true that is. And not sure what the actual goal is.

Very good question.

Re: Want people to do the right thing? Save them the guilt trip

#13

Post by peterwwillis »

Barrin92 wrote: post #8

"The potential of positive self-directed emotions has largely not been embraced by activists. The worry could be that it might make those engaging in the cause appear self-satisfied or selfish. But these studies suggest that, instead of focusing on ‘doom and gloom’ messaging that zooms in on people’s shortcomings and risks alienating them, policymakers and strategists might find that positive messaging, speaking to p…

In different countries, the same law with the same penalty has different rates of law-breaking, so you can't necessarily draw a clear line of "this works, this doesn't" in every country/case. Yes, being harsh can have results. Does that mean its results are better than a different tact? The evidence of one method alone doesn't show you that, you have to experiment or study the same situation with both methods.

There is evidence that, for example, treating prisoners more humanely and giving them trust and responsibility can lower recitivism rates, while there's also ample evidence to suggest that harsh fines and imprisonment for minor crimes creates greater recitivism. But this may vary by country and implementation.

Re: Want people to do the right thing? Save them the guilt trip

#16

Post by [deleted] »

Barrin92 wrote: post #8

"The potential of positive self-directed emotions has largely not been embraced by activists. The worry could be that it might make those engaging in the cause appear self-satisfied or selfish. But these studies suggest that, instead of focusing on ‘doom and gloom’ messaging that zooms in on people’s shortcomings and risks alienating them, policymakers and strategists might find that positive messaging, speaking to p…

[deleted]

Re: Want people to do the right thing? Save them the guilt trip

#17

Post by [deleted] »

Barrin92 wrote: post #8

"The potential of positive self-directed emotions has largely not been embraced by activists. The worry could be that it might make those engaging in the cause appear self-satisfied or selfish. But these studies suggest that, instead of focusing on ‘doom and gloom’ messaging that zooms in on people’s shortcomings and risks alienating them, policymakers and strategists might find that positive messaging, speaking to p…

[deleted]

Re: Want people to do the right thing? Save them the guilt trip

#18

Post by drdeadringer »

SubiculumCode wrote: post #15

If only dentist would follow this practice

I cannot agree with you more.

The last thing I need from a dentist, and the first thing I will get from a dentist, is a lecture about what brought me in to the dentist.

I know why I need to go see a dentist. I don't need them to repeat back to me what I've been telling myself but with a flavoring of guilt-trip, I need to know how bad it is and what to do to move forward.

Re: Want people to do the right thing? Save them the guilt trip

#19

Post by [deleted] »

Barrin92 wrote: post #8

"The potential of positive self-directed emotions has largely not been embraced by activists. The worry could be that it might make those engaging in the cause appear self-satisfied or selfish. But these studies suggest that, instead of focusing on ‘doom and gloom’ messaging that zooms in on people’s shortcomings and risks alienating them, policymakers and strategists might find that positive messaging, speaking to p…

[deleted]

Re: Want people to do the right thing? Save them the guilt trip

#20

Post by aeturnum »

I agree that framing issues in a way that allows people to avoid feeling like they have done something wrong is more effective. I also think most activists are aware of this.

I also think that crafting positive, uplifting messages requires a certain level of societal support. Hard to know what one could buy to stop police brutality right now, for instance. I suspect people will come up with things.

When I see a protest right now I don't think about a carefully crafted campaign. I think about a tent revival[1]. Just like a tent revival, sinners are welcome as long as they already want to repent, but there's not going to be a lot there to make you feel good if you aren't a believer. I see the Social Justice left as being in a phase like "young atheists"[2] or young gay people go through when they first embrace their identity: loud and proud and insistent that others recognize their validity.

I think a lot of people mistake preaching to the choir as preaching poorly to the unconverted. It's not unique in any way to the left - people often mistake messages that are intended for the conservative faithful as outreach and mock it for its ineffectiveness.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tent_revival [2] https://www.reddit.com/r/atheism/comments/8rjtsi/young_athei...

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