[tinymollusk]

Outside of the slightly distasteful attitude ("I didn't bother" and "I bet" are slightly abrasive sounding), isn't the attitude one of the skeptic? It jibes with my understanding of how to make better decisions: don't start with the assumption something is true, question information before you store it in your brain.

Annie Duke talks about this in her latest book.

[achileas]

No, that is being contrarian for its own sake. OP specifically said that they don't bother to look at or understand the actual research - that's not what a skeptic does.

[tinymollusk]

I suppose I believe it's less important whether or not we collectively determine the correctness of the other person, and more important that I use their contrarianism to question my own knowledge. I'm less interested in judging their argument and more interested in using their comments to evaluate my own. Kind of a "less wrong" approach, but focused on my own model of reality.