Scientists conducted an experiment: they invited 198 people. They were asked to evaluate 6 hot political topics (sanctions, reforms, Iran, healthcare, and others) on two scales from 1 to 7: "Support" (to what extent do you support this policy, from "strongly oppose" to "strongly support") and "Understanding" (how well do you understand how this policy works, from "very poorly" to "very well").

Then participants were asked to do an action: step by step, describe the mechanism of how exactly this policy leads to its consequences. Be as complete and detailed as possible. And at the end, they were asked again about the same topics.

What happened?
1️⃣ The participants' thinking process was triggered. Some realized they didn't understand how it works. Self-assessment of understanding dropped from 3.82 to 3.45 points. The result is statistically significant at: p<0.001.
2️⃣ Radicalism decreased, as the degree of extreme judgments fell from 1.41 to 1.28 (result statistically significant: p<0.016).

As soon as a person begins to delve into details, they inevitably move away from extreme positions. The mind replaces the categorical "I am 100% sure" with "it's not so clear-cut." Therefore, people who hold extreme positions on a political issue usually understand that issue much worse than they think.

The skill of checking what a particular claim is based on becomes the main survival skill. Before believing a thesis, check what "sand" it stands on.


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