This brief piece may be relevant to the Mike P-Mike S interchange about rebutting conspiracy theories. I suspect the outcomes are difficult to predict in any given circumstance, but I do not share Mike S's point that providing evidence will never backfire. I don't think the research on biased assimilation and attitude polarization supports that claim.
http://www.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/04/28/nyhan.birther.truth/index.html?hpt=Sbin ...Scott Scott O. Lilienfeld, Ph.D. Department of Psychology, Room 473 Emory University 36 Eagle Row, Atlanta, Georgia 30322 slil...@emory.edu; 404-727-1125 -----Original Message----- From: Mike Palij [mailto:m...@nyu.edu] Sent: Thursday, April 28, 2011 9:02 AM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Cc: Mike Palij Subject: Re: [tips] When Prophecy Fails, 2011 Version On Wed, 27 Apr 2011 23:23:24 -0700, Michael Sylvester wrote: >My take on this is that if some people demand evidence,then prviding >evidence will not hurt. I think you miss the point and did not watch the clip from "The Last Word"; see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVG772L1v_k As Obama mentioned in his press conference yesterday, there are still going to be people who will think that he was not born in the United States and no amount of evidence will convince them otherwise. When confronted with falsifying evidence they will ignore it, try to change the focus of discussion, and evade attempts to address the issue. If we are trying to teach critical thinking skills to our students, we really need to show how to debunk nonsense such as the birther issue. I suggest that one gives their students a project where they have to verify that a person was born in Hawaii and what sorts of evidence would be used to support such an assertion (Note: states have different standards for records such as birth certificate and Hawaii makes publicly available the "short form" of a person's birth and maintains the "long form" private -- the short form was released years ago but birthers refused to accept it as evidence and now that the long form has been released there should no longer be any questions). One starting point for such an exercise might be this news article: http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-hawaii-governor-obama-birth-certificate-20110427,0,247000.story A more relevant question is why is there any doubt at all? Where is the evidence that he was born elsewhere? What is it's legitimacy? One ironic thing about the false controversy about where Obama was born is that of the two major candidates, only Obama was actually born in the United States -- John McCain was born in the Panama Canal zone. There has been some controversy of whether he was actually born in the Panama Canal zone which was under U.S. control but few have seriously promoted this as an objection to McCain's candidacy. For one view of this matter, see: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/05/john_mccains_birthplace.html >The Donald perpective reminds me of Ronald Reagan's TRUST BUT VERIFY. Trump reminds me of many things but it would be rude to express them here. This is truly a case of where a person believes that any publicity, even if it makes them look like a fool, is good publicity. >I am more concerned about people who doubt the holocaust . I am also but to ignore the popular delusions promoted by conservatives and the Republicans can put us and our civil liberties at risk. Of possible relevance to some on Tips, consider the results from a poll of Republicans in Mississippi earlier this month that had as its focus support for potential Republican candidates for the U.S. presidency. However, the real news was not how the candidates stacked up but how the Republicans answered a specific question. Quoting from a blog entry on the poll: |We asked voters on this poll whether they think interracial marriage |should be legal or illegal- 46% of Mississippi Republicans said it |should be illegal to just 40% who think it should be legal. For the |most part there aren't any huge divides in how voters view the |candidates or who they support for the nomination based on their |attitudes about interracial marriage but there are a few exceptions. http://publicpolicypolling.blogspot.com/2011/04/barbour-bryant-lead-in-mississippi.html The pollsters didn't see this as a significant point but readers thought otherwise, as reflected in this Salon article: http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/?story=/politics/war_room/2011/04/07/poll_mississippi_interracial_marriage Tolerance of diverse and opposing viewpoints should be maintained but one really has to ask how long one has to put up with assertions and beliefs that have been falsified? In this sense, denying the existence of the Holocaust or denying that Obama was born in the U.S. are just delusions that are resistant to feedback, evidence, and rational discussion. That such believers are put into positions of power in business and government should make all of us concerned with how to deal with such people. -Mike Palij New York University m...@nyu.edu --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: slil...@emory.edu. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13509.d0999cebc8f4ed4eb54d5317367e9b2f&n=T&l=tips&o=10262 or send a blank email to leave-10262-13509.d0999cebc8f4ed4eb54d5317367e9...@fsulist.frostburg.edu ________________________________ This e-mail message (including any attachments) is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this message (including any attachments) is strictly prohibited. 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