Research: Changing Your Mind Makes You Seem Intelligent
What do people think of leaders who refuse to change their minds? The authors performed a series of experiments to find out. They found that people perceived entrepreneurs who changed their minds as lacking confidence, but demonstrating intelligence. Further research illuminated the contexts in which stubbornness isn’t penalized. For example, in another study where participants were evaluating job candidates, participants were more likely to agree that a candidate who changed their mind should be hired if the job was one where intelligence was valued (such as engineering). However, the preference was muted in jobs where confidence was valued (such as public speaking).
Hardheadedness seems to be rampant. From the boardroom to politics to everyday interactions, we often encounter people (and may also find ourselves) upholding a stance despite evidence of its inaccuracy. Take the many well-educated and well-intended individuals who, despite overwhelming factual evidence to the contrary, continue to deny climate change or believe that vaccines cause autism. But what do people think of those who refuse to change their minds? How do leaders, in particular, come across when they steadfastly continue to uphold a stance in the face of contradictory evidence? We performed a series of experiments to find out.
First, we examined the implications of refusing to change your mind in a real-word context with important outcomes – an entrepreneurial pitch competition. Consistent with prior research, we found that entrepreneurs had a general tendency to dig their heels in: 76% of entrepreneurs refused to change their minds when faced with contradictory evidence. Unfortunately, this tendency turned out to be counterproductive to their interests. Specifically, entrepreneurs who changed their minds during the pitch were almost six times more likely to advance to the final round of the competition.
Next, we took our findings from the pitch competition into the laboratory to find out more about what was driving these outcomes. Participants played the role of investors evaluating entrepreneurs, where half of the entrepreneurs were described as changing their minds while the other half were described as holding their ground on an initial stance in the face of valid contradictory evidence. Similar to what we observed in the actual competition, participants believed that entrepreneurs who changed their minds should advance in the competition, compared to those who dug their heels in. We also found that participants perceived those who changed their minds as lacking confidence, but demonstrating intelligence — the results suggest that in an entrepreneurial context at least, showcasing intelligence is ultimately paramount.
However, further research suggests that there are contexts in which stubbornness isn’t penalized. For example, in another study where participants were evaluating job candidates, participants were more likely to agree that a candidate who changed their mind should be hired if the job was one where intelligence was valued (such as engineering). However, the preference was muted in jobs where confidence was valued (such as public speaking). We believe these results shed some light on why we sometimes hold inconsistent opinions of those who change their minds — at times disparaging them for their equivocation and at times applauding them for their thoughtfulness. Context is everything.
Previous research has demonstrated that we are often loathe to change our minds for various psychological reasons, but we wondered if impression management concerns were one of them. In other words, do we hold accurate beliefs on how we will be perceived by others when we decide to change our minds? In another study, we asked participants to make such predictions and interestingly, we found that people were pretty accurate. Specifically, participants believed they would be seen as confident but lacking intelligence if they dug their heels in. This presented a conundrum to us. If people are generally accurate in how they will be perceived, why is it that they are still so often unlikely to change their minds? We found that part of the answer is that it’s embarrassing to change our minds in front of others. Indeed, we demonstrate in our last experiment that participants were more likely to change their minds in situations where they could do so in relative privacy.
Given our research, what should you do the next time you are faced with this predicament? Will it be more helpful for you to change your mind or dig your heels in? Much of that answer depends on the context in which you’re making this decision. Is it one where demonstrating your intelligence is more important or one where showing your confidence is critical? If it’s the former, you’re more likely to gain traction if you back down and if it’s the latter, you’d be better off sticking to your guns.
Our research also provides guidance to managers and leaders who want to promote thoughtfulness in employees — they should take steps to ensure that people can change their minds without losing face. For example, in heated decision-making meetings — say, the vigorous debate that can arise when considering which of many talented job candidates to hire — leaders can elicit final votes privately, helping those declaring their stances from the get-go by giving them the opportunity to quietly and gracefully change their mind after having heard their colleagues’ counter arguments. Leaders might also try to model “mind-changing”: in response to valid evidence that their initial stance was wrong, leaders might label their behavior as being responsive to facts or simply say, loudly and clearly, “I was wrong.”
Martha Jeong is an assistant professor of management at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, where she researches negotiations, social judgments, and decision-making.
Leslie K. John is an associate professor of business administration at Harvard Business School. Twitter: @lesliekjohn.
Francesca Gino is a behavioral scientist and the Tandon Family Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. She is the author of the books Rebel Talent: Why It Pays to Break the Rules at Work and in Life and Sidetracked: Why Our Decisions Get Derailed, and How We Can Stick to the Plan. Twitter: @francescagino.
Laura Huang is an associate professor of business administration at Harvard Business School. She is the author of Edge: Turning Adversity into Advantage. You can follow her on Twitter @laurahuangLA
Research: Changing Your Mind Makes You Seem Intelligent
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