Once you’ve got an opinion on something (sometimes you’ve just adopted the first opinion you’ve heard on a topic) – it gets immediately way more difficult to change this opinion again.
The reason for this is EGO!
The longer you’ve hold a belief and the more you’ve defended it – the harder it gets to admit it to yourself, that you might be wrong. If you’re running the danger of being exposed to be wrong, to lose your face, the same brain areas get triggered as if you were physically attacked. That’s why most people automatically enter into defense mode and defend their pre-existing opinions, even if it is obvious to every rational thinking person – and even to themselves if they where not the ones under pressure – that they are obviously on the wrong side of the argument.
To avoid this “backfire effect”, head over to “SOLUTIONS” – Street Epistemology.
A great way to get rid of your ego tampering with the quality of your belief-system is to switch to a Bayesian approach.
Each unit of information gets referenced with its sources and relevant links to other units of information. Each source and unit of information gets rated by quality and probability by including the supporting positive evidence and counter arguments.
If a “unit of information” gets a new source – or evidence against it, the confidence in percent from 0 – 99.999… percent gets automatically adjusted.
A belief system organized this way completely biases ones ego, therefore effectively minimizing its effect.
Now – all that is left is to change your attitude about losing a debate. If you’re HAPPY to be able to drop a false belief, you will learn to lose debates in style. Admitting to be wrong about something and to be grateful somebody pointed it out – that’s a high virtue!