Category Archives: Science
How to Find Evidence to Support Any Argument
Information is knowledge, and knowledge is power. If you want someone to rally to your cause, support your position, or put you in a position of authority, you need to be able to back up your positions and sway others from theirs. The trouble is, not every point has supporting data, and not every opinion is swayed by facts. That doesn’t have to slow you down though. Here’s how to find data to support any point, even the ones you disagree with, so you can better inform your own.
Want people to trust you? Try apologising for the rain
If you want people to see you as trustworthy, try apologising for situations outside of your control such as the rain or a transport delay. That’s the implication of a new study by researchers at Harvard Business School and Wharton School,University of Pennsylvania.
The most compelling evidence came from Alison Brooks and her colleagues’ fourth and final study in which a male actor approached 65 strangers (30 women) at a train station on a rainy day to ask to borrow their mobile phone. Crucially, for half of them he preceded his request with the superfluous apology: “I’m sorry about the rain!” The other half of the time he just came straight out with his request: “Can I borrow your cell phone?” The superfluous apology made a big difference. Forty-seven per cent of strangers offered their phone when the actor apologised for the rain first, compared with just nine per cent when there was no apology.
Read more »
