Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Convincing People

Chris Mooney wrote Want to Sway Climate Change Skeptics? Ask About Their Personal Strengths (And Show Pictures!). "Nyhan and Reifler once again confronted partisans with information on these subjects that (presumably) contradicted their beliefs—but there was a twist. This time, the contradictory information was sometimes presented in the form of a convincing graph, showing a clear trend (in attacks, jobs, or temperatures). And second, sometimes the individuals went into the manipulation after having undergone a “self-affirmation” exercise, in which they were asked to describe a positive character attribute or value that they possessed, and a situation in which showing that attribute or trait made them feel good about themselves. And in both cases, the manipulation worked—although by different means."

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