Researchers asked participants to estimate the percentage of same-gender couples in their country and then revealed the actual figure. People who had badly overestimated did not, on the whole, simply update their belief downward. Many of them instead revised their definition of the underlying category, or questioned the data. The study illustrates how stubbornly people can hold onto numerical estimates that anchor their worldview.
Which choice best states the main idea of the text?
- A
People always update their beliefs in light of new data.
- Bcheck_circle
The study shows that confronting people with corrective statistics often produces resistance rather than belief revision.
- C
Surveys are unreliable measures of public opinion.
- D
Same-gender couples are more common than people think.
Explanation
The passage's central claim is about resistance to corrective data — B. A and C contradict; D is not the focus.