Hidden Tribes: The Appeal of Motivated Reasoning

Exposing The Appeal of Motivated Reasoning

How did you come to believe in everything that makes you, you? Did you feel the sneaky appeal of motivated reasoning, or did it take you by surprise? It used to be that scientists figured people made decisions about the world and their beliefs in a fact-based way. But that… doesn’t seem to be the case. Most people’s brains pick through available information, discard whatever causes unpleasant emotions, and keeps whatever creates the most comfortable version of reality imaginable. Reason, even for those most highly trained in science and mathematics - seems to be much more about tribal, emotional ties than it is about just the facts.

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Join us on a journey to the inner workings of the human mind, the hidden appeal of incentive-driven reasoning, and a few suggestions for how to stay away from these cognitive traps. Stick around for part 2, where we speak with Dr. Christopher French, professor of Anomalistic Psychology at the University of London.

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#MotivatedReasoning #CognitiveDissonance #TribalPsychology

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Epley, Nicholas, and Thomas Gilovich. 2016. "The Mechanics of Motivated Reasoning." Journal of Economic Perspectives, 30 (3): 133-40.

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Van Prooijen, J.-W., Klein, O., & Milošević Đorđević, J. (2020). Social-cognitive processes underlying belief in conspiracy theories. In M. Butter & P. Knight (Eds.), Handbook of Conspiracy Theories