ABSTRACT: People have a remarkable talent for reaching conclusions about themselves, the world, and their place in it that flatter themselves. The tendency has many names: rationalization, wishful thinking, self-deception, defensive processing—but the main overarching term is motivated reasoning. In this talk, I discuss psychological perspectives on motivated reasoning. I touch on the variety of motivations that underlie people’s judgments (or whether any motivation does at all), the reach of motivated reasoning, and finally potential psychological mechanics that support it.

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