In the book The Catalyst, Wharton School professor Jonah Berger explores the question of how to change someone’s mind, given that humans are naturally change-averse. He comes to the question from a business background: companies face challenges in getting consumers to try out or switch to their product because we like to stick to the status quo, even when that status quo is detrimental to our well-being or simply not the best choice we could be making. Berger asks, “Why hasn’t that person changed already? What is stopping them?” and then answers it by explaining five key barriers to change. Drawing on the concept of catalysis in chemistry, in which the amount of activation energy needed for a reaction to happen is lowered by the presence of an added substance, known as a catalyst, Berger argues that, likewise, the best way to generate change in people is not about pushing harder or persuading better, but about changing minds by lowering barriers that keep people from taking action.
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