I think you are absolutely correct that getting someone involved in a social group where everyone already has those ideas would be better at changing minds. But that’s way harder than getting someone to have a ten-minute conversation. In fact, it’s so hard that I don’t think it’s ever been studied experimentally. Hopefully I’m wrong and there are limited studies; but I’ve looked for them and not found them (~5 years ago).
I’d frame it this way: what you’re doing in that interview is supplying the motivation to do System 2 thinking. The Socratic method is about asking people the same questions they’d ask themselves if they cared enough about that topic, and had the reasoning skills to reach the truth.
I think you are absolutely correct that getting someone involved in a social group where everyone already has those ideas would be better at changing minds. But that’s way harder than getting someone to have a ten-minute conversation. In fact, it’s so hard that I don’t think it’s ever been studied experimentally. Hopefully I’m wrong and there are limited studies; but I’ve looked for them and not found them (~5 years ago).
I’d frame it this way: what you’re doing in that interview is supplying the motivation to do System 2 thinking. The Socratic method is about asking people the same questions they’d ask themselves if they cared enough about that topic, and had the reasoning skills to reach the truth.