Description: "Many mistakenly believe that it is fruitless to try to persuade those who disagree with them about politics. However, Persuasion in Parallel shows that individuals do, in fact, change their minds in response to information, with partisans on either side of the political aisle updating their views roughly in parallel. This book challenges the dominant view that persuasive information can often backfire because people are supposedly motivated to reason against information they dislike. Drawing on evidence from a series of randomized controlled trials, the book shows that the backfire response is rare to nonexistent. Instead, it shows that most everyone updates in the direction of information, at least a little bit. The political upshot of this work is that the other side is not lost. Even messages we don't like can move us in the right direction"--]cProvided by publisher.
Brief description: Alexander Coppock is assistant professor of political science at Yale University.
Review Quotes: "Overturning decades of conventional wisdom, Coppock compellingly demonstrates that persuasive messages have similar effects for all kinds of people. This finding will set the agenda for the fields of public opinion and political communication."--Brendan Nyhan Dartmouth College