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The misinformed are often committed to the misinformation

AlterNet news discusses the fact that misinformation is hard to shake off--a particularly disturbing fact in the current election season.

There is discussion of the issue and a link to the research paper on this:

Why It's Hard to Change People's Minds

By Sean Gonsalves, AlterNet. Posted October 7, 2008.

Nyhan and Reifler attribute that kind of "thinking" to the affects of "motivated reasoning," which can distort how people process information.

"As a result (of motivated reasoning), the corrections fail to reduce misperceptions for the most committed participants. Even worse, they actually strengthen misperceptions among ideological subgroups."

Now you know why those back-and-forth on-line debates so often prove to be fruitless. Unfortunately, neither Bullock, Nyhan, or Reifler suggest a way to successfully counter misinformation clung to by those who hold their political opinions with an air of certitude.

Washington Post columnist Shankar Vedantam suggests wrapping refutations in language that enhances the self-esteem of the misinformed.

The research paper:
"When Corrections Fail: The persistence of political misperceptions."

Full post as published by Building Rapport on October 08, 2008 (boomark / email).