Motivated reasoning¶
The tendency of individuals to process information in ways that support their preexisting beliefs, political ideology, or preferred conclusions—including mechanisms, effects, and scope in political and misinformation contexts.
Key papers and articles¶
- Walter et al. (2020) — Fact-Checking: A Meta-Analysis of What Works and for Whom — meta-analysis identifying motivated reasoning as primary mechanism constraining fact-checking effectiveness; pro-attitudinal corrections (consistent with preexisting beliefs) substantially more effective than counter-attitudinal ones; Republicans/conservatives show weaker belief updating than Democrats/liberals.
- Bode & Vraga (2015) — In Related News, That Was Wrong: The Correction of Misinformation Through Related Stories Functionality in Social Media — empirical evidence that motivated reasoning constrains correction effectiveness; related debunking stories successfully reduce GMO misperceptions but fail on vaccine-autism, demonstrating that stronger prior convictions resist algorithmic correction
- Ecker et al. (2022) — The psychological drivers of misinformation belief and its resistance to correction — discusses motivated reasoning and worldview-driven belief resistance to correction alongside other cognitive and affective mechanisms
- Lazy, not biased: Susceptibility to partisan fake news is better explained by lack of reasoning than by motivated reasoning — Pennycook & Rand arguing that lazy reasoning, not motivated reasoning, better explains fake news susceptibility