LA LGBT Center
A Los Angeles LGBT community organization known for developing deep canvassing.
Where LA LGBT Center comes up1 episode or test
- 1Ask about being judgedPersonal question opens the conversation
- 2Connect emotionallyEmotional connection comes first
- 3Turn to gay marriageThe argument comes second
From LA LGBT Center, via Johann Hari
What was said about LA LGBT Center
1Deep canvassing and connecting before arguing
Deep canvassing asks about being judged before arguing about gay marriage. The LA LGBT Center developed deep canvassing, which opens with a personal question such as 'has there ever been a time you felt judged?' before the conversation turns to gay marriage. The emotional connection comes first and the argument second.
Johann Hari, author of Chasing the Scream, cites it as the origin of his own approach to persuasion in writing.
Hari copies the sequence: vulnerability, then a shared goal, then evidence. Having learned from the LA LGBT Center's deep canvassing that you connect emotionally before you argue, Hari opens each book with a moment of vulnerability. He then names a goal the reader already shares, such as less addiction or less depression, and only afterward lays out evidence.
He backs the shared-goal step with Sperber and Mercier's work, which finds that juries weigh facts well because they agree on their goal. Lost Connections opens with Hari nearly dying from a poisoned apple in Vietnam. His quote: "It's why all my books begin with a moment of vulnerability of some kind".
This Research System Will Change How You Write — Johann Hari
Its deep canvassing asks 'has there ever been a time you felt judged?' before arguing about gay marriage. Hari learned from it to connect emotionally before presenting evidence.
Deep canvassing asks about being judged before arguing about gay marriage. The LA LGBT Center developed deep canvassing, which opens with a personal question such as 'has there ever been a time you felt judged?' before the conversation turns to gay marriage. The emotional connection comes first and the argument second.
Johann Hari, author of Chasing the Scream, cites it as the origin of his own approach to persuasion in writing.
Hari copies the sequence: vulnerability, then a shared goal, then evidence. Having learned from the LA LGBT Center's deep canvassing that you connect emotionally before you argue, Hari opens each book with a moment of vulnerability. He then names a goal the reader already shares, such as less addiction or less depression, and only afterward lays out evidence.
He backs the shared-goal step with Sperber and Mercier's work, which finds that juries weigh facts well because they agree on their goal. Lost Connections opens with Hari nearly dying from a poisoned apple in Vietnam. His quote: "It's why all my books begin with a moment of vulnerability of some kind".
More in Other
OtherApple
A consumer technology company that makes the Mac, iPod, iPhone and software.
86 sources · 212 tips
OtherGoogle's web search product, now including AI Overviews, AI Mode and Lens.
53 sources · 103 tips
OtherGoogle Play
Google's app store for Android, with its own listing rules and search ranking.
18 sources · 49 tipsStandard Oil
John D. Rockefeller's oil refining company that came to dominate American kerosene and oil distribution.
5 sources · 48 tips
OtherIntel
A semiconductor company that made memory chips and the first microprocessor.
B12 sources · 23 tips
OtherTSMC
The world's leading contract chip maker, a pure-play foundry that manufactures chips for fabless designers.
6 sources · 32 tips
OtherTesla
An electric car maker that builds its own key components and factories.
14 sources · 23 tips
OtherSpaceX
A private aerospace company building reusable rockets, the Dragon capsule, Starship and the Starlink satellite network.
5 sources · 29 tips