Gruesome evidence can backfire because people avoid thinking about it

Evidence

In retrospect, I think the Hoess confession misfired because it is so gruesome. Students may have avoided thinking about it for that reason, and so remained unmoved. Strong fear-arousing communications can do this (Insko, 1967). — Bob Altemeyer, The Authoritarian Specter, 3221

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the general finding across this book’s studies that high-RWA authoritarians resist threatening information, and to broader terror-management literature on fear-driven avoidance. — connects to: People often resist or reverse belief updating rather than tracking evidence — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof: Why Misinformation Infects…, 104; People preferentially seek confirming evidence and avoid testing their own hypotheses. — Lee McIntyre, Post-Truth, 93; People proactively avoid information that could trigger collective guilt. — Nyla R. Branscombe and Bertjan Doosje (eds.), Collective Guilt: International…, 454
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Bob Altemeyer, The Authoritarian Specter, 3221