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24 June 2025 • Alums • Research Conflicting Evidence May Not Change Minds but Strong Evidence Can
With support from her former student co-authors, Assistant Professor Stephanie Anglin’s research reveals that people are more open to changing their beliefs than previously thought—when presented with high-quality evidence.
To grow, people must maintain an openness, a willingness to change their minds. For the most part, however, psychology research has claimed that people tend to resist changing their beliefs—even when presented with evidence that contradicts them. But that, Assistant Professor of Psychological Science Stephanie Anglin found, depends on the quality of evidence.
In studies testing belief persistence in the face of scientific evidence, subjects generally are presented with research supporting both sides of an issue. In a previous paper, Anglin suggested that research shouldn’t necessarily change subjects’ minds--if they’re presented with conflicting evidence on both sides of an issue.
“Personally, I don’t know that I would change my beliefs if there were two studies with opposing findings. I don’t know that that makes sense,” Anglin says.
Classic studies on belief perseverance suggest people resist evidence opposing their beliefs, maintaining or even strengthening their beliefs in response to evidence that challenges their views. Anglin’s research, “Predictors and Persistence of Belief Change in Response to Scientific Evidence: A Replication and Extension of Anglin,” built on research she published in 2019, challenges that suggestion.
With her 2019 article, "Do Beliefs Yield to Evidence? Examining Belief Perseverance vs. Change in Response to Congruent Empirical Findings," Anglin was surprised when findings contradicted the prevailing belief.
At the time, Anglin recalls being surprised by her initial findings. “To be honest, first I checked whether I coded my data wrong because people were reporting shifting their beliefs in response to the evidence,” Anglin says. She realized researchers might have been biased about studying bias by presenting their study subjects with insufficient evidence to change anyone’s beliefs.
“This is part of the reason I was attracted to (this topic),” Anglin says. “There tends to be interest in bias when people are biased, more so than when people are accurate and well-reasoned.”
The article published this year by Collabra: Psychology replicated the findings and serves as an extension of the work.
Nicole Miller ’22, MAT ’23, Eileen Rath ’20 and Jennifer Yuodsnukis ’21 worked with Anglin on the paper and say the research is relevant to their professions today. Miller serves as a second-grade teacher in Waltham, Mass.; Rath, a LMSW, works as a rehabilitation specialist for BestSelf Behavioral Health in Buffalo, N.Y. and Yuodsnukis works in medical technology sales at Science Interactive in Charleston, S.C.
In 2019, 2020 and 2021, their studies each time focused on a different topic: capital punishment, gun control and video games’ link to aggression. With each subsequent study, they refined their approach.
Beyond replicating the original study, Anglin’s goal was to test whether belief changes persist over time and to examine what variables predict belief change.
In many cases, the shift in belief from strong evidence persisted the following day when subjects were surveyed again.
“Originally, I thought (subjects) would be very hesitant to change their opinions, so it was really interesting to learn that even if people do have a strong opinion on a certain topic, like the death penalty, if they are presented with strong and clear evidence—even if it opposes their initial views—their beliefs in fact may change, which is super interesting to think about,” says Miller, who notes the findings are centered on cultural humility, which she tries to maintain in her classroom.
Rath says the results showed her people do take research seriously and think critically about it. “The actual results of the study were helpful because I’m a social worker now. I work with people to figure out what they believe in, what motivates them,” Rath says. “It’s kind of cool what we found and what we learned helps us understand how people work.”
Yuodsnukis says, the research helps show why people resist contradictory and insufficient research. It also leverages strong research. “It’s nice to know that you can change people’s opinions because that’s my whole goal,” says Yuodsnukis, of her profession in sales. “Typically, people are resistant to change, but if I know that I can change their minds, it just depends on what I’m presenting them, it helps my job a lot.”
Top: Assistant Professor of Psychological Science Stephanie Anglin leads a class discussion during “Intro to Personality.”
