This Will Change Your Mind

Ideas can change the world, but where do world-changing ideas actually come from?

Hosted ByChiquita Paschal and Ian Steadman

Do you really understand why you last changed your mind?

Ideas can change the world, but world-changing ideas can take many forms: political speeches, turns of phrase, ad campaigns, activist slogans, scientific theories, cultural tropes, and more.

In This Will Change Your Mind, we explore where persuasive new concepts come from, as well as how they move into wider culture, changing the ways we think and act.

Written and presented by Chiquita Paschal and Ian Steadman. Produced by Sarah Myles.


All Episodes

Episode 05: The Secret of the Ooze

From the late 1970s through to the early 1990s, pop culture often gave a starring role to bright green goop. Why?

Episode 04: One Word—“Trick”

How climate denialists exploited the differences between how scientists talk to each other, and to the public, to deliberately sow confusion.

Episode 03: Happiness, Sadness, Fear, Anger, Surprise, Disgust

In the 1970s, a scientist argued that everyone in the world experiences the same six basic emotions. It’s a compelling theory that is shaping new generations of technology—but it might be wrong.

Episode 02: Not Actually A Hole

Nobody’s sure who coined the phrase “the hole in the ozone layer,” but it still helped change the world

Episode 01: A Paintbrush Is A Pump

In Washington D.C., there’s a think tank that designs new metaphors, with the aim of making us think differently about the world’s problems. We speak with writers and cognitive scientists who specialize in hacking language to change minds.