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k3nt comments on New study on choice blindness in moral positions - Less Wrong
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I have to wonder if many of the respondents in the survey didn't hold any position with much strength in the first place. Our society enforces the belief, not only that everyone is entitled to their opinions, but that everyone should have an opinion on just about any issue. People tend to stand by "opinions" that are really just snap judgments, which may be largely arbitrary.
If the respondents had little basis for determining their responses in the first place, it's unsurprising if they don't notice when they've been changed, and that it doesn't affect their ability to argue for them.
But the study said:
"The statements in condition two were picked to represent salient and important current dilemmas from Swedish media and societal debate at the time of the study."
Even then, people can fail to have strong opinions on issues in current debate; I know my opinions are silent on many issues that are 'salient and important current dilemmas' in American society.
I remember an acquaintance of mine in high school (maybe it was 8th grade) replied to a teacher's question with "I'm Pro-who cares". He was strongly berated by the teacher for not taking a side, when I honestly believe he had no reason to care either way.
IIRC, the study also asked people to score how strongly they held a particular opinion, and found a substantial (though lower) rate of missed swaps for questions they rated as strongly held.
I would not expect that result were genuine indifference among options the only significant factor, although I suppose it's possible people just mis-report the strengths of their actual opinions.