No, people do not change their opinions based on new facts. It's important to not think of it like that because even non "indoctrinated" people we would all consider rational work like this. If you really want to change people's opinions on things, especially things that are important, you need to know how our brains work to get there and you shouldn't think less of people for not changing their minds immediately. Studies have shown our rationality is not a means of making decisions but a means of explaining our decisions. I highly recommend this Vsauce video on the topic. It's a great watch. https://youtu.be/_ArVh3Cj9rw

I first saw this video in early 2021 after spending a lot of time trying my best to show people they were wrong about COVID misinformation and election misinformation. It was a nice epilogue to that period of my life.

The problem is, this is wrong. Most people won't change their views easily. We instinctively downgrade evidence that disagrees with us and upgrade that which reinforces our beliefs.

Ironically, "smart" people can be FAR worse at this that stupid people. Just ask anyone who's tried to do IT work for a doctor. Smart people are able to build more elaborate mental constructs to explain contradictory evidence.

This comes to a particular head in science. Scientific papers are written in a weird way. It's always in the 3rd person, with as much personality taken out as possible. This helps when someone critiques it. Disagreements are with the paper, not the author. This is backed up by a LOT of training at university level. Even so, scientists are still prone to hanging onto outdated ideas far too long. These are people who are undoubtedly "smart" by any reasonable measure.

Not a meme but ok

Something I've been able to do somehow that I'm very proud of is to train myself to hold space for, and to appreciate cognitive dissonance — I've found that trying to quickly clear away the discomfort of it leads to doubling down on beliefs or opinions, which isn't productive. I used to do that a lot, because I had internalised an image of myself as someone whose views and beliefs are consistent and coherent (not like all those other stupid people). I cringe to think of past me, but I suppose that's good in a way, because progress.

Most of my progress has come from remodelling of my world view, which is a messy and lengthy process. Sometimes I have to sit with the discomfort of cognitive dissonance for a while before I can understand it and resolve it.

That's not true!

Literally every single person of all political stripes will see this and agree with this statement.

Where meme

Funny. I was in a group of people (was, in past tense) that made fun of me because I was the first one to change minds if new evidence showed that I was wrong. They saw it as a weakness, as if my ideas were wrong because I was able to change them if I was proved wrong.

I guess this helps explain why I "was" and not "am" a part of that group anymore.

indoctrinated people don't care if you think they're smart. in fact, "smart" is a pejorative to them, unless the adjective is applied to dear great leader, who's the only one allowed to claim the title, and the only one from whom information can be accepted as true

indoctrination indeed. GOP is a fucking cult

Smart people can be stubborn and would dismiss facts sometimes too

This is not entirely true though. Beliefs and opinions are heavily influenced by a lot of factors. Even educated people are not free from such errors. Like the backfire effect (Nyhan and Reifler (2010)): situations where people become more entrenched in their views when confronted with contradictory evidence.

Other studies have found that when presented with data, individuals with more education can sometimes be more divided in their beliefs, particularly when the topic is politically charged. For instance, some educated individuals may use their knowledge to selectively interpret data in ways that support their pre-existing views, a phenomenon known as "motivated reasoning." Confirmation bias relates to that. This has been observed in areas like climate change, where political and ideological factors heavily influence opinions. (See for example: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1704882114 )

In other words, no matter how educated or smart you are, you can still fall into ignorance and stubbornness. The key is to train your ability to think critically—especially when it comes to your own beliefs and opinions. Doing so can help you become more aware of biases and avoid common pitfalls in cognitive decision-making.

Nah, this sounds like bs to me

I'd much rather confirm whether new information is accurate before adjusting my world view. Not all new information is equal.

I think this makes it seem a lot more black and white than it really is. Defaulting to information that agrees with your word view is a natural human bias. We all suffer from it and it's important to actively try and work against that

Lol sweet summer child…

I always find that people that are unflinchingly rigid in their beliefs always seem to be incredibly happy.

I believe that this stems from their inability to grasp the concept that the things that you don’t want to be true sometimes are, and the things you wish were, sometimes aren’t.

hot takes are already incoming, so just as a reminder: Sayings like this have assumptions that are necessary to be aware of before nitpicking details.

The saying is just saying that smart people are open minded to new ideas and information and indoctrinated people are taught to be close minded. It doesn't mean every new piece of information is immediately believed by the smart person or that smart people are immune to confirmation bias, just that they are generally open to new information supported by evidence and indoctrination teaches people to reject new information whether it is supported by evidence or not.

It is a generalization about a primary difference, not a hard and fast rule.

I’m dismissing any facts you are commenting that contradict this post.