Curse

Killed u man · Jul 13, 2011, 01:31 PM // 13:31

Just saw this on Team Liquid and it seemed worthy (if not mandatory) of a repost here on guru.

Essentially this article is about various scientific studies done regarding how we, psychologically, deal with new information presented to us and what effect it has on our current beliefs and understandings.

One particular part of this article focusses on online-arguements on forums and as such I found it very interesting to read the facts about what most of us have gone through atleast once while posting on various fora.

Link: http://youarenotsosmart.com/2011/06/...ckfire-effect/

And the most relevant passages regarding the internets:

Quote:

The Misconception: When your beliefs are challenged with facts, you alter your opinions and incorporate the new information into your thinking.

The Truth: When your deepest convictions are challenged by contradictory evidence, your beliefs get stronger.

Quote:

Once something is added to your collection of beliefs, you protect it from harm. You do it instinctively and unconsciously when confronted with attitude-inconsistent information. Just as confirmation bias shields you when you actively seek information, the backfire effect defends you when the information seeks you, when it blindsides you. Coming or going, you stick to your beliefs instead of questioning them. When someone tries to correct you, tries to dilute your misconceptions, it backfires and strengthens them instead. Over time, the backfire effect helps make you less skeptical of those things which allow you to continue seeing your beliefs and attitudes as true and proper.

And probably the post interesting part for us, regular forum attendants:

Quote:

The last time you got into, or sat on the sidelines of, an argument online with someone who thought they knew all there was to know about health care reform, gun control, gay marriage, climate change, sex education, the drug war, Joss Whedon or whether or not 0.9999 repeated to infinity was equal to one – how did it go?

Did you teach the other party a valuable lesson? Did they thank you for edifying them on the intricacies of the issue after cursing their heretofore ignorance, doffing their virtual hat as they parted from the keyboard a better person?

No, probably not. Most online battles follow a similar pattern, each side launching attacks and pulling evidence from deep inside the web to back up their positions until, out of frustration, one party resorts to an all-out ad hominem nuclear strike. If you are lucky, the comment thread will get derailed in time for you to keep your dignity, or a neighboring commenter will help initiate a text-based dogpile on your opponent.

What should be evident from the studies on the backfire effect is you can never win an argument online. When you start to pull out facts and figures, hyperlinks and quotes, you are actually making the opponent feel as though they are even more sure of their position than before you started the debate. As they match your fervor, the same thing happens in your skull. The backfire effect pushes both of you deeper into your original beliefs.

CorDa616 · Jul 13, 2011, 09:24 PM // 21:24

The study is credible, however, it is inaccurate in the stating that you can never win an argument. Trolls are born out of the 'frustration' factor and a bunch of other pettier things, in their opinion, when someone 'leaves out of frustration', they have won.

Even though it is not technical winning, in their 'belief system', they think it is. Thus the factor comes in from your first quotation.

People will always share different beliefs, regardless of arguments or other things. Beyond that, beliefs are flexible and changing.

Too tired to go on, need to go sleep.

Nice post though.