1That flash of temper when someone meets a fact that undoes their story is not stupidity. It is a mind defending its own shape, which is a real need rather than a shameful one.
Say this to yourself before you say anything to them, because contempt carries in the voice even when it stays out of the words. Being wrong and not knowing it is more comfortable than being wrong and knowing it, and people will pay a great deal to stay in the first state. If you leave someone a way to change their mind without losing face, they take it far more often than if you win.
Islamic evidence
Lord, do not take us to task if we forget or make mistakes (Quran 2:286). The prayer asks for error to be met gently, which is a fair guide for how to meet it in someone else.
“God does not burden any soul with more than it can bear: each gains whatever good it has done, and suffers its bad- ‘ Lord, do not take us to task if we forget or make mistakes. Lord, do not burden us as You burdened those before us. Lord, do not burden us…”
Qur'an 2:286
Psychological evidence
A meta-analysis found that the need to appear perfect to others, which is not the same as the need to be perfect, is itself linked with psychopathology. So how a person is seen while being corrected is nothing trivial to them. The evidence is associational and comes from questionnaires rather than from watching real arguments.
Casale S, Svicher A, Fioravanti G, Hewitt PL, Flett GL, Pozza A. (2024). Clinical psychology & psychotherapy · doi
Review detail
Why it works. People defend a story hardest when losing it would mean losing their footing.