First described by researchers Brendan Nyhan and Jason Reifler in their 2006 study ‘When corrections fail: The persistence of political misperceptions’ (pdf), the backfire effect is the comprehensively soul-crushing psychological phenomenon that when confronted with unassailable evidence that their previously held belief was false, people may not only reject the evidence, but dig in even deeper into their false beliefs. “Just as confirmation bias shields you when you actively seek information, the backfire effect defends you when the information seeks you, when it blindsides you,” notes David McRaney of the blog You Are Not So Smart, dedicated to exploring the concept of self-delusion. “A great example of selective skepticism is the website literallyunbelievable.org. They collect Facebook comments of people who believe articles from the satire newspaper The Onion are real,” including “articles about Oprah offering a select few the chance to be buried with her in an ornate tomb.” (Read: The backfire effect)