Showing people facts that contradict their beliefs actually reinforces them!

Faith in our collective humanity -1. Poking fun at low-information voters is a pretty common thing at around elections. Many people who follow politics view them with derision because they don't inform themselves about the facts of policy. However, some political scientists have found that even well informed people who know hold positions based on 'facts' are unlikely to change their stances despite being confronted with facts that contradict what they believe.

A lot of research shows that humans process information wanting to reinforce what we already believe. This is known as 'motivated reasoning': we passively accept as truth information that confirms what we believe and dismiss information that doesn't.

So what are politicians to do if they can't convince people with cold, hard facts? One thing that seems to work better is self-esteem. If people feel threatened by the facts, they will believe them less than if the issue is framed positively for their self-esteem.

There's a lot to read about this topic, so we recommend that you check out this article.