You Are Not So Smart

095 - The Backfire Effect - Part Three

35 snips
Feb 11, 2017
Ask episode
AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
INSIGHT

Belief Can Persist Despite Knowing Correction

  • People can know a correction yet still continue to believe the original false claim due to motivated reasoning.
  • Cultural and ideological factors, not country, predicted who kept believing Iraq WMD claims.
ANECDOTE

Simulated Primary Revealed Backfire

  • David Redlawsk ran a simulated primary where participants learned custom negative news about their chosen candidate.
  • Low doses of negative info (10–20%) made supporters like their candidate more, showing backfire in action.
INSIGHT

There Is A Tipping Point For Updating

  • Redlawsk identified an "effective tipping point" where backfire stops and accurate updating begins.
  • On average about 30% negative exposure was required in the lab before attitudes shifted toward the disconfirming information.
Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode
Get the app