I’ve observed the same behavior, and I’ve also found that if you give someone an “out” they’re more likely to agree:
“I support X!”
“Why?”
“Well, A, B, C.”
“Oh! You mean you support Y? Because A+B+C implies Y, so obviously you support Y”
“Right, of course. What did you think I meant?”
I’ve done this a fair few times, and it often produces some absurd about-faces in people. Being confrontational doesn’t produce the same changes, so I don’t think this is just a matter of them having actually meant Y. I’ll often spend some time clarifying they really mean X, not Y, and then do this, and then clarify that yes, they really mean Y, not X now. It’s baffling at times.
I haven’t followed-up a ton on it, but the changes seem to generally “stick”—they don’t just agree with Y to get me to leave them alone.
Basically, the trick is to lead the conversation such that you’re not implying that they were ever wrong. It’s a weird bit of double-think at first, and can be tricky to adjust to, but I find it’s fairly useful quite frequently. If nothing else, by avoiding being confrontational, I seem to leave myself more open to hearing that I’m wrong and really meant Y all along :)
I’ve observed the same behavior, and I’ve also found that if you give someone an “out” they’re more likely to agree:
“I support X!” “Why?” “Well, A, B, C.” “Oh! You mean you support Y? Because A+B+C implies Y, so obviously you support Y” “Right, of course. What did you think I meant?”
I’ve done this a fair few times, and it often produces some absurd about-faces in people. Being confrontational doesn’t produce the same changes, so I don’t think this is just a matter of them having actually meant Y. I’ll often spend some time clarifying they really mean X, not Y, and then do this, and then clarify that yes, they really mean Y, not X now. It’s baffling at times.
I haven’t followed-up a ton on it, but the changes seem to generally “stick”—they don’t just agree with Y to get me to leave them alone.
Basically, the trick is to lead the conversation such that you’re not implying that they were ever wrong. It’s a weird bit of double-think at first, and can be tricky to adjust to, but I find it’s fairly useful quite frequently. If nothing else, by avoiding being confrontational, I seem to leave myself more open to hearing that I’m wrong and really meant Y all along :)