What is the theory of motivated reasoning?
In broad terms, motivated reasoning theory suggests that reasoning processes (information selection and evaluation, memory encoding, attitude formation, judgment, and decision-making) are influenced by motivations or goals. Motivations are desired end-states that individuals want to achieve.
What is an example of motivated reasoning?
Evidence that supports what is already believed is accepted. Evidence which contradicts those beliefs is not. An example of motivated reasoning in the public sphere is the fact that many people continued to believe that Barack Obama was not born in the United States in the face of ample evidence that he was.
What is motivated processing?
The motivation process progresses through a series of discrete steps. Needs/motives are the starting point of motivation. An unsatisfied need creates tension that stimulates drives within the individual. The action taken by the individual will lead to the reward/goal which satisfies the need and reduces tension.
What is motivated reasoning and how does it work?
Motivated reasoning is a form of reasoning in which people access, construct, and evaluate arguments in a biased fashion to arrive at or endorse a preferred conclusion. Of course, people are not always motivated to confirm their preferred conclusions. Actually, they sometimes are motivated to draw accurate conclusions.
Is motivated reasoning real?
Motivated reasoning is a natural human tendency. But just because cognitive biases are pervasive doesn’t mean they can’t be changed. There are ways to identify and overcome erroneous thinking, whether that be an individual’s decision-making process or communication challenges in society more broadly.
How do you stop motivated reasoning?
Motivated reasoning occurs when we use reasoning not to discover what’s really true but to justify the conclusion we prefer. You can avoid motivated reasoning by imagining your decisions will be made public or by bringing others into your decision-making process.
How do you overcome motivational reasoning?
What is motivated cognition?
1. To begin, motivated cognition refers to the unconscious tendency of individuals to fit their processing of information to conclusions that suit some end or goal.
What are motivated beliefs?
“Motivated beliefs” is a relatively recent development economics which offers a position between traditional assumptions of rational and purposeful behavior and the conventional approaches of behavioral economics. It is introduced and explored in a symposium in the Summer 2016 Journal of Economic Perspectives.