It's an interesting, though not new, idea in psychology. It amounts to (as the article says):
“Once formed,” the researchers observed dryly, “impressions are remarkably perseverant.”
Which is very true. People have a hard time unlearning bad facts. And it turns out things learned through inductive learning and reasoning is much, much harder to unlearn than things presented straight to a person.
So, if a person thinks they figured something out on your own, even when presented with a pile of hard facts, logic and reason s to why they are wrong, they will cling to the "fact" that they incorrectly induced on their own.
Not everyone does this all of the time, but it is a difficult barrier to surpass. Some of us learn to question the things we believe, but most people are never actually able to do that in any objective way. Hence rational, intelligent people clinging to religion and political beliefs that make absolutely no sense.
“Once formed,” the researchers observed dryly, “impressions are remarkably perseverant.”
Which is very true. People have a hard time unlearning bad facts. And it turns out things learned through inductive learning and reasoning is much, much harder to unlearn than things presented straight to a person.
So, if a person thinks they figured something out on your own, even when presented with a pile of hard facts, logic and reason s to why they are wrong, they will cling to the "fact" that they incorrectly induced on their own.
Not everyone does this all of the time, but it is a difficult barrier to surpass. Some of us learn to question the things we believe, but most people are never actually able to do that in any objective way. Hence rational, intelligent people clinging to religion and political beliefs that make absolutely no sense.
“Eternity is a terrible thought. I mean, where's it going to end?”
― Tom Stoppard, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
― Tom Stoppard, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
