Liberals resisted corrections but showed no backfire effect, unlike conservatives

Evidence

In a second iteration, researchers sought to test whether the same result would be true for liberal partisans. In this case, after being shown a phony news story about how Bush had imposed a total ban on stem cell research (when in fact he had only limited federal funding for stem cell lines created before August 2001 and had put no limits on privately funded research), subjects were given accurate information. In this case, the correction worked for conservatives and moderates, but not for liberals. It is important to note, however, that in this case there was no backfire effect for liberal partisans. While the corrective information was again “neutralized,” and did not alter liberals’ mistaken belief, in this instance the researchers could find no evidence that being exposed to the truth had caused liberals to strengthen their commitment to the false idea. The truth had not backfired. — Lee McIntyre, Post-Truth, 109

Categorization

• QUESTION: If the backfire effect turned out asymmetrical between partisan groups, is that a real cognitive asymmetry or an artifact of which false beliefs were tested? Later replications would probe exactly this.
• XREF: connects to: Factual corrections rarely backfire even on ideologically charged issues — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof: Why Misinformation Infects…, 137; The backfire effect does not occur symmetrically across the political spectrum — Lee McIntyre, Post-Truth, 109

Broader Connections

• The backfire effect does not occur symmetrically across the political spectrum #corroborates (0.95) — Lee McIntyre, Post-Truth, 109
• Factual corrections rarely backfire even on ideologically charged issues #qualifies (0.85) — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof, 137