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Heartwired
Human Beings Are Heartwired
Just as there is a complex network of circuits that wire people’s brains and influence people’s impulses, there’s also an elaborate psycho-social circuit board that connects people’s emotions, values, beliefs, identity and lived experiences. In other words, human decision-making is influenced by how people are heartwired.
Heartwiring Your Messages
At Wonder, we hear regularly from our partners — advocates, activists, funders — that they are angry, frustrated, and uncertain. They are angry that our progress has stalled or that we’re losing ground. They express uncertainty about how to build support for progressive ideas. They are frustrated that they cannot seem to motivate audiences to care.Â
We created Heartwiring Your Messages as a roadmap for communicating effectively with conflicted audiences. The five evidence-based strategies in this new guide have proven to be successful because they are psychologically aligned with how we, as humans, sort through information and conflicting perspectives to arrive at a conclusion that aligns with our sense of self. The Wonder team has pressure-tested and refined these strategies for over a decade in partnership with leaders like you to make progress on tough social issues.Â
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Messengers Matter: Building Trust in Times of Distrust
Have you ever wondered why some messages resonate, while others, even when grounded in strong research and facts, fail to connect?Â
Across our work at Wonder for Good, we’ve learned that who delivers a message matters just as much as what the message says — especially in times of polarization, skepticism, and declining trust.
Curious to learn more?
Watch Messengers Matter: Building Trust in Times of Distrust, a free webinar we offered exploring the role of trusted messengers in persuasive communication and narrative change.
Housing Messaging Workshop
Wonder conducted deep multi-year audience research in Colorado on behalf of The Colorado Health Foundation, and in partnership with Goodwin Simon Strategic Research, on how to deploy effective persuasive messaging about affordable housing, supportive housing for those experiencing homelessness, and renter’s protections.Â
Since 2024, we have reached over 250 housing advocates statewide through capacity-building and train-the-trainer workshops on the research-backed Good Neighbor Messaging Guide. Below is a recording of our two-part October 2025 virtual workshop series.Â
Both parts of the workshop are included in one video below. Please note that the recording only includes the presenters speaking, and omits all participant discussion and questions.
Heartwired Workshops
To schedule a briefing with your organization about how to Heartwire your own organization’s messaging, write us at curiosity@wonderforgood.com.
Download Heartwired
Heartwired: Human Behavior, Strategic Opinion Research, and the Audacious Pursuit of Social Change, published in 2017, was created in partnership with our colleagues at Goodwin Simon Strategic Research with support from the David & Lucille Packard Foundation.
