People often distort evidence to fit preexisting worldviews rather than updating beliefs

Evidence

We may lean towards concluding the latter in this case‡ but it is often difficult – psychologically – to disentangle whether someone is fighting for a sincerely held belief or motivated to arrive at a particular conclusion. We’ll unpack this dilemma later on, but for now, let it suffice to say that making the truth fluent is therefore not always enough in the face of what we call ‘motivated cognition’. That is, our beliefs are not driven by the evidence, but rather by an underlying (political) motivation that leads us to (willingly) distort our perception of the evidence to fit our worldview, rather than the other way around. — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof, 108

Categorization

• DEFINE: Introduces and defines ‘motivated cognition’ as beliefs driven by underlying motivation rather than evidence.
• XREF: connects to: Motivated reasoning makes people reject information threatening their values and beliefs. — Anna Merlan, Republic of Lies, 89; People often resist or reverse belief updating rather than tracking evidence — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof: Why Misinformation Infects…, 104; People resist updating beliefs even at the cost of accuracy (+16 more)

Broader Connections

• People resist updating beliefs even at the cost of accuracy #corroborates (0.95)
• Prejudice persists because people dismiss evidence contradicting existing attitudes #corroborates (0.92)
• Even disconfirmation evidence often fails to break a person’s confirmation bias #corroborates (0.92) — Lee McIntyre, Post-Truth, 94
• People deploy selective perception and motivated reasoning routinely when faced with evidence #expands (0.90) — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof, 144
• Directionally motivated reasoning makes people reject disconfirming evidence and seek explanations for it. #expands (0.85) — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof, 166
• Preconceptions about Muslims filter out information that contradicts them #exemplifies (0.85)
• Contradictory evidence is neutralized by subtyping rather than revising stereotypes #expands (0.85)
• Selective evidence use lets people maintain the illusion of being objective while holding prejudice #expands (0.80) — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 2095
• False beliefs often stem from bad sources rather than closed minds #qualifies (0.75) — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof, 143