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Change of Heart: What Psychology Can Teach Us about Spreading Social Change

Nick Cooney (Goodreads Author)

4.18 · Rating details · 351 ratings · 34 reviews

Should anti-war protesters use graphic images to get public support for their cause, or will such images turn the public off? In encouraging the public to adopt sustainable behaviors, should environmental organizations ask for small changes like using fluorescent light bulbs or big changes like giving up cars? Why do most Americans say they oppose the cruel practices of fa ...more

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Paperback, 220 pages

Published December 1st 2010 by Lantern Books (first published September 20th 2010)

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The Most Good You Can Do by Peter Singer

Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman

Effective Altruism Books

173 books — 101 voters

Books for Vegans, Vegetarians, and those interested in Animal Rights

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Apr 07, 2015 Nick Cooney rated it it was amazing · (Review from the author)

I wrote it so of course I have to give it five stars :)

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Nov 24, 2011 Veronica Noechel rated it liked it

Very interesting book and well worth reading, however, I found a number of the suggestions skeezy at best, downright unethical at worst. Looking up local people on Facebook and choosing who to develop a friendship with in real life based upon who has the most friends so you can effect more people through that person seems duplicitous and manipulative. Using people is not a good way to enact change, even if it works. Just because something is effective doesn't necessiarily mean it's something one ...more

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Dec 15, 2010 Erik Marcus rated it it was amazing

this review reprinted from Vegan.com

It’s easy to do animal advocacy that will save large numbers of animals from harm; easier still if you get a little reading under your belt.

Nick Cooney’s new book, Change of Heart: What Psychology Can Teach Us About Spreading Social Change, is the most impressive book on animal advocacy tactics I’ve yet encountered. But it’s not the first book on the subject I’d read. Consider Cooney’s book a graduate level course, one that has a few prerequisites.

I’d start

this review reprinted from Vegan.com

It’s easy to do animal advocacy that will save large numbers of animals from harm; easier still if you get a little reading under your belt.

I’d start out by reading either Ball and Friedrich’s The Animal Activist's Handbook, or Hawthorne’s Striking at the Roots. These are great introductory texts that will acquaint you with a variety of effective activist opportunities, and basic strategies for being as effective as possible.

Peter Singer’s Ethics Into Action is also a terrific read for beginning advocates. By analyzing the campaigns of animal advocate Henry Spira, this book offers up some great lessons about how change is won. And finally, my own Meat Market: Animals, Ethics, & Money provides a perspective to understanding animal agribusiness’s key weaknesses that is especially useful to novice activists.

With these books read, you’re ready to tackle Change of Heart, which contains practically no overlap with any of these other titles. What Cooney has done is to read deeply into the surprisingly large body of research on psychology and persuasiveness, in an effort to uncover approaches to advocacy that will deliver maximum impact. Cooney has not only dug deeply into the research—as the founder of Philadelphia’s Humane League, he’s spent his time in the trenches winning a variety of campaigns. I think this gives him added authority to speak about activism, when compared to writers who are exclusively immersed in academia.

Throughout his book, Cooney gives clear answers to areas of substantial controversy among activists. Among these topics:

*Is it productive to bring up veganism early in a conversation with a meat eater?
*What sorts of appeals are most likely to motivate omnivores to reduce or eliminate their consumption of animal products?
*How much of our outreach should convey statistical information, and how much should tell individual stories?
*How can you present yourself as someone your listener will like and will trust?
*When launching a campaign, what negotiation tactics have proven most effective in getting your target to make the changes you seek? *How do campaign approaches that demand your listener undergo a fundamental change in world view compare with approaches that seek a more gradual approach?
*Do campaigns that focus on eliminating specific cruelties to certain farmed animals sabotage efforts that are purely geared toward spreading veganism, or do they in fact help further the adoption of veganism?

You can certainly win important changes for animals without knowing the answers to questions like these. But imagine how much powerful your efforts will be if you have clear answers to these sorts of questions—answers based not on personal opinion but instead on substantial research.

I can’t say enough about Change of Heart. Cooney’s done a masterful job of examining the scientific literature of persuasion and social change. His book flows nicely from one topic to the next, building chapter by chapter to increasingly advanced models of activism. And at the rare times when he reaches a point where there’s no clear research pointing in either direction, he makes clear that his book has ventured into uncharted territory.

How useful is Change of Heart? I would guess that for many animal advocates, it has a real shot at doubling our effectiveness. I expect that, moving forward, Change of Heart’s lessons will inform every substantial advocacy effort I undertake.

If I’m even close to right that Change of Heart could double the effectiveness of a serious activist, imagine the payoff it will have for animals. I often talk about “animal millionaires”—activists who have kept a million animals from slaughter. And while I’ve met dozens of people who surely qualify as animal millionaires, that’s perhaps too daunting a number for a typical part-time advocate to aspire to.

But saving 100,000 animals is surely quite attainable for part-time advocates. To reach this milestone, all you would need to do is convince fifty young people to become vegetarian or vegan (the average person will eat about 2000 land animals, mostly chickens, between the ages of twenty and seventy.) Now imagine saving an extra 100,000 animals simply by making use of the lessons taught by Change of Heart.

Change of Heart will give you the tools to tweak your overall efforts for maximum effectiveness. This book may well represent the best investment in time that an already dedicated animal advocate could make.

Consider Change of Heart to be required reading for anyone seriously devoted to animal protection.

...more

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Oct 10, 2012 Ira Therebel rated it it was amazing

Shelves: psychology, non-fiction, aimal-rights

An absolutely amazing book.

It connects psychology and activism by bringing various researches that show how people are more likely to respond to change and what is the best way to achieve it. It answers different questions like "Why are about 95% against factory farming and yet the great majority of them does nothing?", talks about the influence of social norms, benefits of social networking and brings up many different techniques that can be used by activists.

A great thing this book talks abou An absolutely amazing book.

It connects psychology and activism by bringing various researches that show how people are more likely to respond to change and what is the best way to achieve it. It answers different questions like "Why are about 95% against factory farming and yet the great majority of them does nothing?", talks about the influence of social norms, benefits of social networking and brings up many different techniques that can be used by activists.

A great thing this book talks about is how attitude change doesn't necessarily results in behavior change. And how one can work more on the behavior (for example not just tell them what they should do, but also more advice on how it can be done)

The book doesn't answer all questions, but it gives one a lot of information to think about and model ones actions around it. One major thing in making the change is to understand society and to understand how they will respond to actions and to make change in ones own actions if they are not being productive. This is what this book is great for.

I personally will read it many times. One time just isn't enough considering how much information there is, one needs to read it several times and digest it in order of being productive.

A great thing this book will be useful to me is understanding people who refuse to change. Every book and blog directed to people who want to change the world tells one to always keep the cool. And while I know it I still often lose it which results in the opposite of what I am trying to achieve. But keeping oneself together is so much easier when one doesn't just look at people as selfish ****s who refuse to be compassionate to others, but people who just like me are willing to be good and yet there are some psychological phenomena that stand in our way. I am sure not better than them. While there are behaviors which I have already changed there are still others where I have done nothing. For example, I am sure against sweatshop exploitation and yet I don't know 100% where my clothes come from.

The author's main field is animal rights but this book is helpful for any kind of activism and he brings many examples of how people in other areas, like gay rights, can use the information provided.

A must have for everyone who is an activist, wants to become one or wants to at least make some influence in his own social circle. ...more

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Mar 18, 2013 Jeffrey Spitz Cohan rated it it was amazing

Shelves: psychology, veganism

“Change of Heart” is easily among the Top 3 books on advocacy that I have ever read.

Author Nick Cooney, who is a skilled and experienced advocate himself, presents a broad array of psychological research in this book and explains the implications for advocacy work. He has performed a real service by compiling so much research and presenting it in digestible form for the social-change community.

Admittedly, the more you learn about psychology, the more you despair of the human condition.

And peopl ...more

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Jan 09, 2018 Chay rated it it was amazing

Shelves: animal-rights-favourites

Great book. Required reading for all social change advocates.

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Sep 01, 2016 Benjamin Fasching-Gray rated it liked it

Shelves: psychology, food, resistance

Despite an endorsement from Dena Fleno of AFSCME, this book seems more relevant for chuggers than union organizers. At first I was a bit annoyed that much of the book is a literature review of the kinds of social psychology articles that are discussed in books like Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness, The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference, and Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion. So, like, one of those for chuggers, basically. But then I go Despite an endorsement from Dena Fleno of AFSCME, this book seems more relevant for chuggers than union organizers. At first I was a bit annoyed that much of the book is a literature review of the kinds of social psychology articles that are discussed in books like Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness, The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference, and Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion. So, like, one of those for chuggers, basically. But then I got to thinking, I could always stand to read that sort of thing again, if it will help me stay calm when discussing things with people, instead of just going nuclear like I often do. If it were really possible to internalize these tools, and then use them, that would be great, but as the book often points out, knowing things doesn't automatically translate into behavior changes. Although one thing Cooney brings out early and often, about dressing like the people you are trying to reach... I am already on board with that.

As I got further into the book, I started to get more disturbed. It has awoken a kind of philosophical dilemma for me. Given that people aren't rational actors, that actually most if not all of their (and my) attitudes, behaviors, thoughts are just stuff that feels right and is explained away later... stuff that has more to do with important people in a person's peer group, socio-economic class, and all the spam ... cough, cough, I mean, media and marketing ... around us, than with any kind of reason or moral compass. So, like, the whole free will versus determination thing. And for me, I don't want society to go the "right direction" because of top down decisions, because of what this book calls "upstream approaches." I want a truly democratic society, one where these kinds of decisions are ... when not personal... based on consensus. So, yeah, you could use this kind of stuff to try to get others to adopt your views... but isn't the ethical approach rather the old fashioned, ineffective one of just presenting your views and letting others come to their own decisions?

Obviously, if you are going to present your views, you want to present them in the best possible light. And obviously, if your group has reached consensus on some kind of campaign or target you want to the best possible information materials, strategy and tactics. But I think this book tipped a little bit into a kind of creepy side that I didn't like as much. Something like California über Alles... the song, I mean. Yeah whatever. Probably just making excuses to be lazy or something. As opposed to really trying this stuff, which would take more effort. But as Cooney sort of writes in the conclusion, if you can do something to even reduce one creature's suffering... you should do it. ...more

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Jan 13, 2012 Sarah Clement rated it liked it

I will say first of all that this is a book that needed to be written. I've spent many years feeling rather frustrated that activists don't generally use the vast amount of information on behaviour change to inform their work, or even recognise that the act of behaviour change is at the heart of most of their work. That said, I think this book could have been better executed and having a) a good editor and b) an expert reviewer could have helped this book enormously.

This book is a good crash co I will say first of all that this is a book that needed to be written. I've spent many years feeling rather frustrated that activists don't generally use the vast amount of information on behaviour change to inform their work, or even recognise that the act of behaviour change is at the heart of most of their work. That said, I think this book could have been better executed and having a) a good editor and b) an expert reviewer could have helped this book enormously.

This book is a good crash course for the uninitiated. If you aren't familiar with the work on behaviour change, social marketing, behavioural economics, and behavioural psychology, then you will likely learn a lot. At the same time, what you learn will be very superficial, and it may feel overwhelming, as Cooney will throw a lot of facts and strategies at you. He tries to cover a wide range of concepts and strategies, but in the process the book feels unfocused and fails to go into the detail many campaigners would require to truly put the book into practice. Perhaps writing a companion guide (like a workbook that helps advocates think through their campaigns systematically) would address this issue. Still, I definitely think this book is worth reading for those who are currently operating off gut instinct and anecdote. The information to make you more effective as an advocate is out there, and Cooney does indeed compile a lot of it.

At the same time, it falls into the same traps of many pop social science books, and thus gives a fairly superficial and overly rosy view of much of the research. If you are a person who finds yourself annoyed when reading books by Malcolm Gladwell, then you will understand my point. One thing that I really think he neglected is the issue of recidivism and regression back toward baseline. In the long term, a lot of the research and campaigns he refers to amounts to very little change, and that's worth mentioning. Not to make the reader feel hopeless, but to emphasise that maintenance is just as important as change. While this book will give the reader many simple heuristics to use, which are rooted in the literature, in the process of simplification much of the nuance is lost. I think this is okay given his target audience, but the long reference list gives the book an air of authority that I don't really think is merited given the content.

Finally, the editing. Maybe it was just this version, but this book needs a good copy and content edit. The reference just about drove me mad, as the in-text citations are cited very differently in different places, and aren't consistent with any citation system that I am aware of. The book also starts as though it was written by a 19 year old activist who has just discovered research for his English composition course, and we didn't really get into the good stuff until halfway or two-thirds into the book. I will say that I learned a few very interesting things in Chapter 7, which was great considering I have experience in this research area, but I did indeed have to wait until Chapter 7 in a 10 Chapter book. ...more

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Apr 22, 2011 Andrea rated it it was amazing

I think this book is amazing just because it finally brings some practicality to activism. It presents itself essentially as a meta-study of relevant activist assumptions and techniques. It really will change at least some aspect of how you approach changing people's minds.

Fortunately, it seems that many of these methods are now being employed, but often they are not. I hope everyone trying to affect positive change in the world reads this book. ...more

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Jan 01, 2011 Ginny Messina rated it it was amazing

Read this two years ago, and I'm not sure why I never rated or reviewed it. I still refer back to this book often; it's essential reading for any activist, and especially animal activists. ...more

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Aug 04, 2012 Audrey rated it really liked it

Shelves: animals-veganism-the-environment

A very useful book for anyone trying to create social change either on a global or local scale.

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Dec 23, 2019 Josh rated it liked it

This book is great for skimming - I spent too much time going beyond that when I didn't need to.
Some of the ideas in this book are great (although a better book for the psychology of choice in people would be Kahnemann's "Thinking Fast and Slow"). Some of the ideas in this book are not so great. Perhaps what stuck out most to me was that, looking at the difference in political situations from 2011 to today, some of Cooney's ideas or theories he shared clearly don't hold up anymore - when we look ...more

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Jan 22, 2018 Cristina rated it it was amazing

Shelves: activism

When making a decision, we're usually inclined to use our intuition and common sense, but that can sometimes lead to the opposite effect of what we want. This book explains a lot about how humans think and behave and it can be of help when it comes to human interaction. It gives many examples and studies that confirm certain strategies and methods of communication.
This is one of the best books you can read as an activist if you want to work efficiently towards your goal. It's packed full of prac ...more

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Jan 30, 2020 Marissa rated it it was amazing

Fascinating and inspiring, I recommend it to anyone involved in a movement to create a better world.

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Aug 21, 2016 Signe Tolbøll rated it it was ok

Shelves: 2016, animal-righta

While I think Change of Heart has some really good observations and some ideas I can definitely use in my activism, the author also admits to be single-issue orientated which I am definitely not and hopefully never will be. And since my activism is not purely single-issue I also advocate other types of activism that is not just about behavioral change but definitely also, if not even moreso, about mental change (like queer-feminism is for me rather about changing peoples mindset, than their beha ...more

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Dec 29, 2015 Alasdair Reads rated it really liked it

Would be one of the best books on effective altruism style ideas to give to somone who was conventionally involved with activism. Goes over a lot of ground, infact too much - a but more discrimination would have helped in refining the message. In addition, some of the academic results are speculative at best and some skepticism of the papers presented in places is definatley justified. But a good resource book.

Would also have benefited with more engagement with commerical advertising and messagi ...more

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Nov 19, 2011 Penny rated it liked it

Vegan Book Club 2nd selection
This book explores what makes people change. I didn't realize there was so much thought and money that went into research by activists in order to promote their ideas. Behavioral changes involve much more from people than traditional advertising for material goods purchasing. This book gives lots of advice on how activists can be more effective in promoting social change. Of course getting laws passed is the fastest way to get changes made. ...more

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Jan 24, 2012 Blakely rated it really liked it

I found this book difficult to rate... Unfortunately the author and I seem to have read a lot of the same books. I was familiar with about 70% of the research Cooney mentioned in his book.

That being said, I think for the vast majority of activists this will be an extremely helpful book and an enjoyable and thought-provoking read. I did enjoy the parts of the book with ideas and information that were new to me.

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Jun 15, 2019 Tobias rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: topic-vegan

This field manual highlights not only the many psychological and social obstacles to creating change – which are plentiful – but also opportunities, based on science from the same fields. It leaves you with a feeling that there is a lot of work to be done and many challenges to overcome but I’m now also more armed than ever to meet these head-on.

Well worth a read and I’d recommend it to anyone who is serious about creating a better world!

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Jul 29, 2012 Marsha rated it really liked it

It’s essential for advocates to understand why people make the choices they do, what influences them, and what kinds of strategies can inspire positive change. This book distills decades of research to help changemakers become more effective, and offers specific ideas for how to implement the research in their activism.

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Apr 01, 2015 Andy rated it really liked it

People are not robots but much of what we do to spread good behaviors is based on that assumption. This short, accessible book goes over the psychology research explaining what works better and that is very valuable information. The examples are heavy on animal rights, but the reader can generalize to other issues.

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Jan 12, 2011 Valerie rated it liked it

I'm only at Chapter Two and I LOVE this book! It combines my studies in Community Organizing and Advocacy with my love of animals. Nick's radically different way of approaching activism is enlightening! ...more

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Feb 03, 2017 Michael Broadhead rated it it was amazing

This is a must read for any effective activist. It will save you hours of research and help you boost your effectiveness at creating positive change in the world.

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Feb 16, 2011 Sarah marked it as considering

Recommended by Civil Eats

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Apr 21, 2011 AJ rated it it was ok

Shelves: non-fiction, 2011

This book was factual and well-written, just not terribly interesting to me. I would highly recommend it to people who work for non-profits, however.

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Jun 12, 2011 Jeff rated it really liked it

A collection of Activist Mind Tricks. A valuable resource for anybody who wants to convince anybody of anything.

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Sep 02, 2012 Gregory rated it it was amazing

If you are involved in any sort of activism or are interested in social change, this book is a must read. Lots of fascinating information and it is all based on social science research.

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Apr 16, 2013 Teagen Mcclain rated it it was amazing

I've read this book twice and found it very useful. If you are an activist or advocate of any cause I highly recommend Change of Heart. ...more

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Aug 30, 2013 Lauren Read rated it really liked it

This book is truly a manual. Learn and live in the most effective way to incite change, in individuals and society! A practical guide referencing hundreds of studies.

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Oct 22, 2013 Ketlīna Kļaviņa rated it it was amazing

A very useful book for activists & probably everyone else who wants to persuade someone to agree/change their behaviour/etc.

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About Nick Cooney

Nick Cooney

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Nick Cooney is an investor and advocate in the alternative protein industry. He has spent almost twenty years working in the food and beverage industry, initially working on the policy and consulting side and more recently from the venture capital investment side.

Currently, Nick works as managing partner at Lever VC, an early stage venture capital fund that Cooney founded in 2018. Lever VC invests ...more