High dogmatism predicts resistance to evidence on both sides of any issue

Evidence

To summarize this experiment, High DOG students on both sides of the issue typically said they would not be moved by strong evidence against their beliefs. Low DOG students on both sides usually said they would. The scale’s predictions thus proved generally valid. — Bob Altemeyer, The Authoritarian Specter, 2722 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Very few in the overall sample took extreme positions against Jesus’ divinity (—4 or —3) before they got to the ‘""Roman File: There Was a Jesus” narrative. Four such definite nonbelievers scored in the top quartile on the DOG scale (“Dogmatic Nonbelievers”), and they moved an average of 1.5 units toward greater belief in Jesus’ divinity (p > .20). (Two of the four changed.) Six others were Nondogmatic Nonbelievers, and they moved 2.83 units toward greater belief (p < .05). (Five of the six shifted.) So the DOG Scale also did a fairly good job predicting who among the strong nonbelievers would respond to evidence that went against their beliefs, and who would not. — Bob Altemeyer, The Authoritarian Specter, 2721 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

The five studies we have covered in these past few pages, which Vacchiano, Strauss, and Hochman covered in two paragraphs, address the basic premise underlying the Dogmatism Scale. None of them supports that premise, and most flatly contradict it, suggesting instead a D Scale-”rightist” link. So also do most of the other studies that the reviewers considered under different headings or that have appeared since: Bailes and Guller (1970), Direnzo (1968, 1971, 1986), Granberg and Corrigan (1972), Karabenick and Wilson (1969), Knutson (1974), McCarthy and Johnson (1962), Schwendiman, Lar- sen, and Cope (1970), Smithers and Lobley (1978), Thompson and Michel (1972). — Bob Altemeyer, The Authoritarian Specter, 2614 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: The most revealing social facts are the assumptions both sides take for granted — Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis, Schooling in Capitalist America:…, 1045; Dogmatism predicts resistance to counterevidence regardless of belief direction — Bob Altemeyer, The Authoritarian Specter, 2721; High dogmatism predicts refusal to change belief regardless of evidence’s direction. — Bob Altemeyer, The Authoritarian Specter, 2722 (+5 more)

Broader Connections

• Dogmatism predicts resistance to counterevidence regardless of belief direction #corroborates (1.00) — Bob Altemeyer, The Authoritarian Specter, 2721
• High dogmatism predicts refusal to change belief regardless of evidence’s direction. #corroborates (1.00) — Bob Altemeyer, The Authoritarian Specter, 2722
• Evidence refutes dogmatism’s claim to be independent of political ideology #complicates (0.82) — Bob Altemeyer, The Authoritarian Specter, 2614