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September 18, 2008

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He's the biggest celebrity in the world . . . but is he ready to lead?

Sure - he can see downtown Raleigh from his off campus housing!!

Interesting comment on the backfure effect from super legal analyst Stuart Taylor:

Consider also a fascinating Washington Post piece by Shankar Vedantam on September 15. He cites studies showing not only that "misinformation can exercise a ghostly influence on people's minds [even] after it has been debunked"--especially among those predisposed to believe it--but also that refutations sometimes backfire by increasing the number of people who believe the original misinformation.

The studies found this refutation "backfire effect" among conservatives but not liberals. Part of the explanation may be that conservatives have more- rigid views than liberals, as political scientists quoted by Vedantam suggest. And part of it may be that conservatives have more reason to distrust the usual refuters.


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