Why Well-Informed People Are Also Close-Minded
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April 16 (Bloomberg) -- How do people form politicalbeliefs? When will they change their minds? When will actualfacts matter? A recent study, conducted by political scientistBrendan Nyhan of Dartmouth College and two co-authors, offerssome clues.
One group of participants was provided with a 2009 newsarticle in which Sarah Palin claimed that the Barack Obamaadministration’s Affordable Care Act created death panels andthat these panels included bureaucrats authorized to decidewhether seniors were “worthy of health care.” A separate groupwas given the same news story, but with an appended correctionsaying that “nonpartisan health care experts have concludedthat Palin is wrong.”