Apologies if everyone knew this and it was a sitewide bit but I did not and now I feel kinda gross for having used it

EDIT: Converted to an archive link out of concerns about direct linking to reactionary site, mea culpa

To clarify: this is NOT the silly letter quote, that was very real

  • Diuretic_Materialism [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
    4·
    8 days ago

    Wood et al 2018: there is no evidence for a consistent “backfire effect”; telling people facts generally changes their minds;

    I have a VERY hard time believing this is true in given the day and age we’re living in.

    • 420blazeit69 [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
      3·
      8 days ago

      I think “generally” is doing a lot of work there. Tons of people dig in if you challenge their opinions, but a lot of people don’t, too. Say 30-40% of people dig in on their positions no matter what evidence they see. That’s enough that it’s a huge factor you’d see all the time, but you could still say that generally (most of the time) people respond to facts.

      Another sticky issue is what people consider to be reliable, factual information. If my grandpa sends me a chain email with “facts” from OANN, I’m going to be pretty skeptical. Maybe the information is actually factual, but I would have to choose to take the time to verify it through other sources before it would change my mind.