#54 Saying Is Believing
Saying is Believing
I once heard a powerful story about Save the Children’s advocacy work in a politically sensitive country. Our teams wanted to gain the government’s support for a national breastfeeding campaign. They first began thanking the Ministry of Health publicly for their support (despite not yet having secured it). Then they convinced the Minister to speak about that support at the campaign launch.
Presto! The Minister and the MoH became campaign partners.
This strategy was effective in part due to the saying-is-believing effect, which arises when a speaker communicates a message to a group, and thereby increases their own belief in that message.
Psychologists have identified at least two reasons this effect occurs:
Speakers tend to attune themselves to their audience’s attitudes.
We all want to reduce cognitive dissonance (see Nutshell #34, attached).
As behavioral science often teaches, when our actions change first, our attitudes and beliefs may follow.