Here are a bunch of quotes from articles originally found via slashdot claiming ‘Studies Say Ideology Trumps Facts’. I think they go a long way in explaining the various political battles that go on in the testing world and how people seem to argue themselves into a corner in the face of (what appears to be) overwhelming facts to the contrary. Likely also explains the eternal optimism of product management in the face of a major bug backlog, etc..

ars technica

  • Cognitive dissonance won’t help people make rational decisions, but it also suggests that there’s little point in arguing with someone who holds an opposing belief.
  • The research might also apply beyond the political to other attitudes—I’m thinking of the constant flame wars between fans of the PS3 and Xbox 360, or Mac and PC users.
  • It seems to suggest that this effect might lead to problems when it comes to efforts to educate people about controversial or politically charged topics

Washington Post

  • … misinformation can exercise a ghostly influence on people’s minds after it has been debunked — even among people who recognize it as misinformation. In some cases, correcting misinformation serves to increase the power of bad information.
  • “backfire effect”
  • Upon hearing a refutation, … might “argue back” against the refutation in their minds, thereby strengthening their belief in the misinformation.

On The Media

  • … when people are predisposed to buy a piece of bad information, the refutation ends up essentially not correcting the misinformation entirely. It corrects it only part way, leaving residual feelings of negativity toward whoever the target of the misinformation was.