Motivated Reasoning and Misinformation: The Backfire Effect

When faced with concrete information, most individuals opt to believe more in the alternative, according to political scientists Jason Reifler and Brendan Nyhan. This phenomenon is known as the “backfire effect,” and it occurs when people refuse to adjust their incorrect ideas. Such people, in the opinion of Nyhan and Reifler, choose to accept mistakes as fact, internalize them, and, worse than, proceed to act upon them (308). Due to this cognitive bias, people frequently encounter evidence that contradict their ideas but choose to ignore them, strengthening their original opinions in the process. Nyhan and Reifler have defined the “backfire effect” as a confirmation or cognitive bias which leads people to look for, interpret, and evoke information in ways which validate their extant beliefs (323).

The ”backfire effect” my apply in several political cases including voting preferences whereby studies have shown that feeding people with negative information about a candidate vying for a political seat leads to the populace increasing their support towards them if he/she is their preferential candidate. Also, the ”backfire effect” occurs a lot in instances where politically-castigated topics brew misconceptions such as cuts on taxes, vaccinations, and GMO foods. As such, people tend to hold on to their original misconceptions rather than the newly-presented facts. Misinformation and motivated reasoning has been a major represent problems for contemporary political systems to a large extent. This includes the extant inability born by various economic interests in explaining who believes in what issues. For example, the HPV vaccine, the issue of climate change, economic policies that influence spending on social welfare and tax cuts are some of the main issues that motivated reasoning and misinformation have brought about problems in various political systems globally (Schaffner and Roche 93). Essentially, by understanding the role played by the ”backfire effect” on people and their thought processes, influencers can engage them better, instilling the much needed facts while doing away with the contained propaganda.

Works Cited

Top of Form

Bottom of Form

Bottom of Form

Top of Form

Top of Form

Nyhan, Brendan, and Jason Reifler. ”When corrections fail: The persistence of political misperceptions.“ Political Behavior32.2 (2010): 303-330.

Schaffner, Brian F., and Cameron Roche. ”Misinformation and motivated reasoning: Responses to economic news in a politicized environment.“ Public Opinion Quarterly 81.1 (2016): 86-110.

Bottom of Form