Prebunking Instead Of Debunking

“People get their defenses up if they think they are being attacked or that you’re so different from them that you can’t be credible,” says Petty. “Find some places where you agree and work from there.”

Counterintuitively, increasing someone’s general scientific literacy can actually backfire, because it provides the skill to better bolster their pre-existing beliefs. Increasing scientific reasoning and media literacy skills, and prebunking, the process of “debunking lies, tactics, or sources before they strike”, or “inoculating people against misinformation” are advised instead.