I think you make an important distinction, but people sometimes act like gaining understanding will result in a long-term reduction in some warm fuzzies for them.

Certainly, people act like this, but I'm wondering whether it is actually true.

I'm confident that they are sometimes correct

First, I wouldn't want to dismiss that some people could be correct. I'm just trying to think up some examples where they actually are. Do you have some other examples you are thinking of?