Response to “The Science of What Makes People Care”

While reading through “The Science of What Makes People Care”, what stood out most was that Social Service Organizations spend an absurd amount of money each year on informative communication with people. Upon reading the article I had wondered how much money they were spending. The amount is millions of dollars, but this left me to wonder why. I thought why spend millions when surely there is a different way to do it, different sources to look to for alternatives? If we read the article further, we find the quote that states “A lot of effort and money invested in communications is wasted.” So, it begs the question, why waste millions? The answer is not very simple but can be looked at deeper. Poet and writer Maya Angelou says, “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”, her statement is also backed up by scientific research and not simply just by her words. For people to invest their time and attention into what is being spread, it is crucial to understand what makes people want to listen. Research has allowed for us to dive deeper into what is needed to make people care and the results have shown that the “Five Principles for More Effective Communications” are the best way to go about it. Each principle has a primary focus. When the principles are put together, results are most effective and grab the attention of people instead of being forgotten. The Principles can be viewed below:

Five Principles for More Effective Communications

1. Join the Community: Identify a group whose change in behavior could make a profound difference for your issue or inspire others to take action and figure out how to bring that group value.

2. Communicate in Images: Use visual language instead of abstract concepts to help people connect with your work.

3. Invoke Emotion with Intention: Think about what you’re trying to get people to do and how they would feel if they were doing it. Then think about stories that would make them feel that way.

4. Create Meaningful Calls to Action: Review your calls to action to make sure they ask communities to do something specific that will connect them to the cause and that they know how to do so.

5. Tell Better Stories: Go beyond simply sharing messages to telling interesting stories with a beginning, middle, and end.