backfire effect

How do your persuade people who are immune to facts?

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If you have ever spent more than  2 minutes on social media then you will have discovered that there are people out there who are not simply wrong, but also demonstrate a complete immunity to little things like facts. Absurd notions prevail that range from medical quackery being promoted as the best, and science (the … Read more

Why do some Ignore the facts and embrace a fantasy as fact?

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There are some individuals who, when confronted with facts that clearly conflict with a belief, will become even more entrenched within the belief, not less. The observation that this happens is known as the backfire effect. The “backfire effect” is a name that was first coined by Brendan Nyhan and Jason Reifler, for the finding that, given evidence against … Read more