Why facts don't matter

Legion Troll

Legion Troll

A fine upstanding poster
Scientists have some intriguing explanations for why people persist in misjudgments despite strong contrary evidence.

It has been studied carefully by researchers for more than 30 years.

Basically, studies show that attempts to refute false information often backfire and lead people to hold on to misperceptions more strongly.

This literature about misperception was lucidly summarized by Christopher Graves, the global chairman of Ogilvy Public Relations, in the Harvard Business Review.

The reason is that people tend to accept arguments that confirm their views and discount facts that challenge what they believe.

Confirmation bias was outlined by psychologist Charles Lord, cited by Graves. Lord found that test subjects, when asked questions about capital punishment, responded with answers shaped by their prior beliefs.

Trying to correct misperceptions can actually reinforce them, according to Brendan Nyhan and Jason Reifler, also cited by Graves.

They documented what they called a “backfire effect” by showing the persistence of the belief that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, after the United States publicly admitted that they didn’t exist.

The results show that direct factual contradictions can actually strengthen ideologically grounded factual belief.



https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/why-facts-dont-matter-to-trumps-supporters/2016/08/04/924ece4a-5a78-11e6-831d-0324760ca856_story.html?wpisrc=nl_draw2&wpmm=1
 
LOL, I just posted about this

Several year ago a poster by the name of MrGone posted something about it & :idea: it all made sense..

It is very rare that anyone changes their mind politically but there are a few, myself included..

I have never seen anyone bludgeoned into changing their minds, & I think most ppl know that but they really seem to enjoy their jihads & petty wars~to slay the libs or kill the cons etc
icon_handjob.gif


Kinda sad really:palm:



Bill said:
They need a great man because he told them America isn't great.. Thus creating a need for his product/brand.. Marketing 101.. Sad thing is now more ppl are buying it..

I would like to say they are all idiots, but they are not..

Marketing does not rely on ppl's intelligence/lack there of but uses other methods, & in this case fear & illusions of "the apprentice" making us all great again~eventhough the Markets are already @ all time highs, you see the jobs report??

Everyone sees his many faults, just like they did when he ran for president before, but now there is a large(not all) portion of the gop that was already disgruntled~potential buyers for his "brand"..

Sadly, in their eyes, he can do no wrong (same could be said about some hillary fans).

They will defend him & his repeated blunders, name calling etc as they would their favorite teams & players to the bitter end~they have bought in personally to the brand...

While there are many of these kinda studies, these are a couple of interesting ones~

More recently: AUDIO In politics, why facts don’t always matter

May 24, 2016 Guests: Angie Drobnic Holan, Peter Ditto, Jason Reifler

It would be nice to think that when people are given the facts, they’d believe them. But, we’re not always so rational. It’s really hard to change someone’s mind, particularly when it comes to their political views. This hour, why we cling to the political misinformation, and even lies. We start out looking at the role fact checking has in this election and if it’s made the candidates more honest and the electorate more informed with ANGIE DROBNIC HOLAN, editor of Politifact. Then Marty talks with PETER DITTO, professor of psychology and social behavior at the University of California, Irvine, and JASON REIFLER, associate professor of politics at the University of Exeter about why it’s so hard to correct our ideological beliefs.


Why the Facts Don’t Matter in Politics

SNIP: Political scientists Brendan Nyhan and Jason Reifler provided two groups of volunteers with the Bush administration’s prewar claims that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. One group was given a refutation — the comprehensive 2004 Duelfer report that concluded that Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction before the United States invaded in 2003. Thirty-four percent of conservatives told only about the Bush administration’s claims thought Iraq had hidden or destroyed its weapons before the U.S. invasion, but 64 percent of conservatives who heard both claim and refutation thought that Iraq really did have the weapons. The refutation, in other words, made the misinformation worse.

A similar “backfire effect” also influenced conservatives told about Bush administration assertions that tax cuts increase federal revenue. One group was offered a refutation by prominent economists that included current and former Bush administration officials. About 35 percent of conservatives told about the Bush claim believed it; 67 percent of those provided with both assertion and refutation believed that tax cuts increase revenue.

In a paper approaching publication, Nyhan, a PhD student at Duke University, and Reifler, at Georgia State University, suggest that Republicans might be especially prone to the backfire effect because conservatives may have more rigid views than liberals: Upon hearing a refutation, conservatives might “argue back” against the refutation in their minds, thereby strengthening their belief in the misinformation. Nyhan and Reifler did not see the same “backfire effect” when liberals were given misinformation and a refutation about the Bush administration’s stance on stem cell research.
Click to expand...
 
Legion Troll said:
Scientists have some intriguing explanations for why people persist in misjudgments despite strong contrary evidence.

It has been studied carefully by researchers for more than 30 years.

Basically, studies show that attempts to refute false information often backfire and lead people to hold on to misperceptions more strongly.

This literature about misperception was lucidly summarized by Christopher Graves, the global chairman of Ogilvy Public Relations, in the Harvard Business Review.

The reason is that people tend to accept arguments that confirm their views and discount facts that challenge what they believe.

Confirmation bias was outlined by psychologist Charles Lord, cited by Graves. Lord found that test subjects, when asked questions about capital punishment, responded with answers shaped by their prior beliefs.

Trying to correct misperceptions can actually reinforce them, according to Brendan Nyhan and Jason Reifler, also cited by Graves.

They documented what they called a “backfire effect” by showing the persistence of the belief that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, after the United States publicly admitted that they didn’t exist.

The results show that direct factual contradictions can actually strengthen ideologically grounded factual belief.



https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/why-facts-dont-matter-to-trumps-supporters/2016/08/04/924ece4a-5a78-11e6-831d-0324760ca856_story.html?wpisrc=nl_draw2&wpmm=1
Click to expand...

yup I am well aware of this study. It's one of the reasons actually why I stopped arguing with people on deep beliefs. It's a waste of time.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top