#egrip

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/intentional-insights/201712/how-deal-irrational-family-members-over-the-holidays

From the article:

It’s the holiday season, which means plenty of opportunities for uncomfortable interactions with friends and family who express irrational beliefs, meaning beliefs that contradict reality. A new peer-reviewed article I published describes how to deal with irrational people effectively, and you can apply this research to your daily life, as I did during a recent holiday event.

The typical response to truth deniers of presenting facts and arguing is generally not effective in changing people’s minds on charged issues. Research on the confirmation bias shows that people tend to look for and interpret information in ways that conforms to their beliefs. Moreover, studies on the backfire effect reveal that when people are presented with facts that challenge their identity, they sometimes develop a stronger attachment to their incorrect belief as a defense mechanism.

If someone denies clear facts, you can safely assume that it’s their emotions that are leading them away from reality.