ThisSpaceAvailable comments on The failure of counter-arguments argument - Less Wrong

14 Post author: Stuart_Armstrong 10 July 2013 01:38PM

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Comment author: gwern 10 July 2013 08:22:44PM *  15 points [-]

The backfire effect, as far as I know, has never been replicated and bears all the hallmarks of being your classic counterintuitive psych finding which will disappear the moment anyone looks too hard at it. I've been trying to discourage people from citing it...

Comment author: ThisSpaceAvailable 15 July 2013 02:54:26AM 1 point [-]

Or maybe the evidence for the effect is so strong that you refuse to believe it. :)

Comment author: gwern 15 July 2013 03:39:46AM 1 point [-]

I feel obligated to point out that the backfire effect, even in the original paper, applied only to a few zealots, and not everyone and not relatively moderate subjects. So your obvious joke is not itself consistent with the paper.