Comment on Open thread, Nov. 17 - Nov. 23, 2014

Wed, 03 Dec 2014 21:52:05 GMT

People do get won over by arguments.

Sure, confirmation bias is a force but it's not an insurmountable force. It only makes changing one's beliefs difficult, but not impossible.

But what is persuasive and what is logical sometimes seem disjoint to different people.

I agree and I don't find this surprising. People are different and that's fine.

Take the classic "Won't somebody please think of the children!" argument. I, for example, find it deeply suspect to the extent that it works as an anti-argument for me. But not an inconsiderate number of people can be convinced by this (and, in general, by emotional-appeal strategies).

I guess what kind of people are convinced by what kind of arguments would be an interesting area to research.

Discuss