> if you want people to believe you have to get them to opt-in to believing

There's a very nice article I read recently [1], on a situation in educational research (as in, how learning happens). The authors point out a situation where a group of 30 scientists published a letter informing teachers about a persistent myth about students. They go into a beautiful examination of the impact of this, what the scientists (possibly) miss, and what effective persuasion may look like. The authors' recommendations, suitably generalized, are a great read for our times, when polarization and tribalism are high, with a startlingly low tolerance for people with “different” ideas. Highly recommended:

[1]: https://deansforimpact.org/why-mythbusting-fails-a-guide-to-...