The case for motivated reasoning.

1990/01/01 by Ziva Kunda · 8,278 citations
Decision Sciences · Psychology · #Affect (linguistics) #Artificial intelligence #Behavioral Health and Interventions #Cognition #Cognitive psychology #Computer science #Construct (python library) #Decision-Making and Behavioral Economics #Motivated reasoning #Psychology #Set (abstract data type) #Social psychology #Variety (cybernetics)

paper · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.108.3.480

published in Psychological Bulletin 108(3), 480-498 (American Psychological Association)

openalex publication_date 1990/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06

Abstract

It is proposed that motivation may affect reasoning through reliance on a biased set of cognitive processes--that is, strategies for accessing, constructing, and evaluating beliefs. The motivation to be accurate enhances use of those beliefs and strategies that are considered most appropriate, whereas the motivation to arrive at particular conclusions enhances use of those that are considered most likely to yield the desired conclusion. There is considerable evidence that people are more likely to arrive at conclusions that they want to arrive at, but their ability to do so is constrained by their ability to construct seemingly reasonable justifications for these conclusions. These ideas can account for a wide variety of research concerned with motivated reasoning.

Citations

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• Prior exposure increases perceived accuracy of fake news. [europepmc]
• Science audiences, misinformation, and fake news. [europepmc]
• Communicating uncertainty about facts, numbers and science. [europepmc]
• Inoculating the Public against Misinformation about Climate Change. [europepmc]
• The importance of (shared) human values for containing the COVID-19 pandemic. [europepmc]
• Fighting COVID-19 Misinformation on Social Media: Experimental Evidence for a Scalable Accuracy-Nudge Intervention. [europepmc]
• Searching for the Backfire Effect: Measurement and Design Considerations. [europepmc]
• Out-group animosity drives engagement on social media. [europepmc]
• Challenges for assessing replicability in preclinical cancer biology. [europepmc]
• Systemic racism: individuals and interactions, institutions and society. [europepmc]
• Politicization and COVID-19 vaccine resistance in the U.S. [europepmc]

Related

• Known Unknowns in Motivated Reasoning: A Closer Look at Three Open Questions
• The skeptical import of motivated reasoning: a closer look at the evidence
• Replicating Human Motivated Reasoning Studies with LLMs
• Why do humans reason? Arguments for an argumentative theory
• Bayes or Pascal? The computations underlying motivated reasoning