Powerful Misinformation ("The Backfire Effect")

New research indicates that refuting misinformation can serve to strengthen some people's belief in the refuted misinformation. It's called "the backfire effect" and it seems to effect conservatives more than others.

Links--

Variablast's video entitled "A minor point on the debate":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aX3Eh6YdOL8

"Washington Post" article on the "Backfire Effect":

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/14/AR20080914023...

McCain supporter Gayle Quinnell calling saying Barack Obama is "an Arab" and, therefore, not to be trusted:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8XmerZEyHE

Information about "Obama bin Lyin'" signs being held up at McCain-Palin rallies:

http://donklephant.com/2008/10/13/sign-of-the-times-obama-bin-lyin/

McCain-Palin supporters in Ohio opine, among other things, that Barack Obama is a terrorist:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjxzmaXAg9E

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJghQMq49dw

McCain-Palin supporter in Minnesota questions whether Barack Obama is an American citizen:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHEVfpsO14M

Material regarding legitimate questions about whether John McCain satisfies the Constitution's requirement that a president be a "natural born citizen" of the United States:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/18/us/politics/18web-hulse.html?_r=2&oref=...

http://www.snopes.com/politics/mccain/citizen.asp

http://leahy.senate.gov/press/200804/043008d.html

Virginia Republican Party operatives push false talking points about Barack Obama:

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/10/va-gop-chief-co.html

And check out this video documenting the politics of hate and disinformation being practiced by the McCain-Palin campaign and their surrogates with very troublesome results indeed:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5mdIPNB8t8

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[baigandine]

This can be a healthy phenomenon, except where the alleged misinformation has been categorically refuted.

[ProfMTH]

@baigandine Don't confuse this with skepticism. That's different. Skepticism can be healthy. What's described in this video is not.

[nedladdy]

From a few thousand miles away it looks like right-wingers are in a wild west fantasy. So, when under attack they need to have greater solidarity and put the (war) waggons into a circle.

cheers

[CrazyBluePrime]

'The coroner doth protest too much' in a sense.

[TearsOfWar1]

OMG, Conservatives stupidity is getting stronger!

[MrZardoz777]

This is a particular manifestation of the well-known phenomenon, Confirmation Bias. Conservatives routinely vote against their own best interest, because they ignore the plain fact that simple answers, containing total certainty, can only be had by denying reality. This is why (pardon the caps-lock), THERE IS NO REASONING WITH THESE PEOPLE. Any idea of meeting them half-way is abortive. They don't just want things both ways, they want things every way.

[ProfMTH]

@ConservativeClarity How odd that when I click on your name, YouTube tells me that your channel is not available. Well, if your channel is not available to me, my channel will not be available to you. Good luck.

[ProfMTH]

@ConservativeClarity Provide your source.

[ProfMTH]

@ConservativeClarity Feel free to debunk the "original study" then. 

[ConservativeClarity]

from the Conclusion of the original research: QUOTE: "It would also be helpful to test additional corrections of liberal misperceptions. Currently, all of our backfire results come from conservatives –.... However, without conducting more studies, it is impossible to determine if the results we observe are systematic or the result of the specific misperceptions tested."