Boomerang effect

A phenomenon in which someone strongly committed to a belief, especially one they have made public, responds to contrary arguments by showing an increase in the strength of belief. That is, when people’s beliefs are challenged, they may become even more convinced that their beliefs are correct.

At least partly stemming from a need to ‘justify’ a commitment they may feel unable to reverse: despite any good counter-arguments subsequently presented to them they now feel they have to “prove to themselves” that they have done the right thing.

(see also: Belief perseverance, Forced compliance effect, Overjustification, Bolstering, belief and bias, myside bias, belief bias, Confirmation bias, cognitive bias, Selective exposure, Neutral-evidence principle, Subjective Validation, Forer (Barnum) effect, wishful thinking)