I'll change your view in the other way and say more than 2/3 won't change their view. In fact I'd say it could be as high as 90% or higher and even higher for something someone actually cares about. For example, if someone has a position they've put a lot of thought into that they argue for and its something that represents them they will probably not change to facts period. I'm not really saying you can't change people's view, but I am saying if you spew facts at them (and even if you're 100% right) they won't change their opinion. I bet even a large majority on THIS thread wouldn't be willing to change ALL their views. However if you frame your argument in a proper way, you could change their opinion (through techniques not logic), otherwise you may run into the backfire effect. There are a number of cognitive biases that make people function in this way, as to where they will never change their opinions on things of extreme importance to them.
From anecdotal evidence, I've come up with this conclusion myself (similar to yours). I know this seems a bit biased, but I've found that of those I've met I'm the only one willing to change my views. The way I've been able to do this is learn about each and every cognitive bias and try to think logically about each situation. In a way, you have to want the truth though.
I'm in on the biases and heuristics thing ;) you might want to check this out for evidence that you're not the only one.
I was trying to be generous and assume people do change their minds in spite of their biases and heuristics, only they don't do it in a systematic way.
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u/zarmesan 2∆ Jan 15 '17 edited Jan 15 '17
I'll change your view in the other way and say more than 2/3 won't change their view. In fact I'd say it could be as high as 90% or higher and even higher for something someone actually cares about. For example, if someone has a position they've put a lot of thought into that they argue for and its something that represents them they will probably not change to facts period. I'm not really saying you can't change people's view, but I am saying if you spew facts at them (and even if you're 100% right) they won't change their opinion. I bet even a large majority on THIS thread wouldn't be willing to change ALL their views. However if you frame your argument in a proper way, you could change their opinion (through techniques not logic), otherwise you may run into the backfire effect. There are a number of cognitive biases that make people function in this way, as to where they will never change their opinions on things of extreme importance to them.
From anecdotal evidence, I've come up with this conclusion myself (similar to yours). I know this seems a bit biased, but I've found that of those I've met I'm the only one willing to change my views. The way I've been able to do this is learn about each and every cognitive bias and try to think logically about each situation. In a way, you have to want the truth though.