How to Create Custom-Generated Negative News Stories About Candidates

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The subjects didn't know that when they filled out questionnaires, the scientists took their answers and used them to create custom-generated negative news stories. The only modulating factor here was how much news each subject consumed. Some people examined as many as 200 pieces of information in 25 minutes. In other words, for that 80% group, eight out of 10 of the news stories that they read painted their candidate in a personalized, poor light.

If dumping evidence into people’s laps often just makes their beliefs stronger, would we just be better off trying some other tactic, or does the truth ever win?

Do people ever come around, or are we causing more harm than good by leaning on facts instead of some other technique?

In this episode we learn from two scientists how to combat the backfire effect. One used an ingenious research method to identify the breaking point at which people stop resisting and begin accepting the fact that they might be wrong. The other literally wrote the instruction manual for avoiding the backfire effect and debunking myths using the latest psychological research into effective persuasive techniques.

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