Paradoxical Thinking, or Over-Active Listening

Active listening often helps people lower their defenses and have a real conversation. Exposing people to ideas farther from yours than theirs already are — sometimes that "backfires" in the direction you were hoping they would go. Letting them feel fully heard and a little nervous about the idea being taken too far, they may look at the ways they don't want to be that extreme. This is a complex idea: I'm not sure when a strong idea would increase the Overton window, when it will "backfire" as paradoxical thinking.

See a study: Paradoxical thinking as a new avenue of intervention to promote peace

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