Reply #45: It may not be time to pat ourselves on the back just yet. [View All]

[riverdeep]

A variety of psychological experiments have shown that political misinformation primarily works by feeding into people's preexisting views. People who did not like (John) Roberts to begin with, then, ought to have been most receptive to the damaging allegation (that he was an abortion clinic bomber), and this is exactly what Bullock found. Democrats were far more likely than Republicans to disapprove of Roberts after hearing the allegation.

Bullock then showed volunteers a refutation of the ad by abortion-rights supporters. He also told the volunteers that the advocacy group had withdrawn the ad. Although 56 percent of Democrats had originally disapproved of Roberts before hearing the misinformation, 80 percent of Democrats disapproved of the Supreme Court nominee afterward. Upon hearing the refutation, Democratic disapproval of Roberts dropped only to 72 percent.

This is a HUMAN condition, cons may be more prone to it, but it really affects everyone. We examine and try to knock down information that doesn't support our conclusions while being much less investigative about information that conforms to it. That's why science has been as successful as it has, it recognizes this tendency and tries to compensate for it with the scientific method.