I tend to model people changing opinion as ships with different inertia changing course: If you formed your opinion yesterday, it has low inertia, and it is ea

I tend to model people changing opinion as ships with different inertia changing course: If you formed your opinion yesterday, it has low inertia, and it is easy to change course. If you formed your opinion a decade ago, it is high inertia, and the best I can do in a conversation is a little nudge in the right direction, hoping it will have some effect later on. The causes for opinion inertia are known. Long held opinions are part of people's identity (think religion, for example). People actively filter for supporting evidence, eschewing opposing views. It takes a while to breach both barriers. If you test high inertia opinion change in one sitting, like studies do, it looks immutable. (don't ever think you are immune to these inertia effects. Everyone is affected)