Denying to the Grave: Why We Ignore the Facts That Will Save Us

Jack Gorman and Sara Gorman — a psychiatrist and a public health researcher — examine why people deny scientific consensus on vaccines, climate change, gun violence, and other issues where the evidence is clear and the stakes are high. Their analysis draws on neuroscience, psychology, and public health research to show that science denial is not primarily a product of ignorance — it is a product of the way human brains process information that threatens deeply held beliefs or group identities. The emotional and social costs of changing your mind often outweigh the epistemic benefits of accepting new evidence.

Denying to the Grave is valuable for counter-disinformation practitioners because it documents, with clinical precision, why information-based interventions so often backfire. The "backfire effect" — where correcting a false belief can cause people to hold it more firmly — is a well-documented phenomenon that most counter-disinformation campaigns are designed in ignorance of. The Gormans propose an alternative framework focused on building trust, addressing emotional drivers, and working through community networks rather than confronting false beliefs directly. For organisations designing resilience programmes or public health communications, this book provides some of the most practically useful guidance available.