Summary: The Case For Motivated Reasoning - Kunda - 1990

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• 2 Reasoning Driven by Accuracy Goals

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• What do people do when they are motivated to be accurate (accuracy-driven)?

  1. They put more cognitive effort in their reasoning
  2. attend relevant information more carefully
  3. process it more deeply
  4. use more complex rules

• How is accuracy-driven reasoning related to the idea of satisficing from simon?

  Satisficing is the phenomena that people form aspirations about how good a option needs to be. When they find an option that meets their aspirations, they stop searching.

• Why do accuracy goals not always eliminate biases and improve reasoning?

  If people erroneously (foutief) belief they need to use procedures which are not useful.

• 3 Reasoning Driven by Directional Goals

• 3.1 Mechanisms for motivated directional biases

• What are two explanations for how directional goals affect reasoning ?

  1. The existence of motivated biases: they need to have a directional goal
  2. Ther need to be a possibility for 'an illusion of objectivity'. People attempt to be rational and construct a justification for their desired conclusion. = justification construction

• On what assumption is the mechanism of motivated reasoning based?

  People access different beliefs and strategies under the influence of different goals

• How is the biasing role of goals constrained?

  By one's ability to construct a justification for the desired conclusion. Believes are extended to that what reason permits.

• How do directional goals affect reasoning?

  1. They affect which information will be considered in the reasoning process (Kruglanski et al.)
  2. Different goals lead directly to the consideration of different beliefs and rules. Not only to different beliefs and rules that are considered in the reasoning process (this adds Kunda to Kruglanski et al.)
  3. Pyszcynski: motives affect all stages, evaluating hypotheses, inference rules, evidence. Or even formation of additional biased beliefs and theories that are constructed to justify desired conclusions (kunda)

• 3.2.2 Additional evidence of biased self-characterizations

• What do directional goals do with people's beliefs about themselves?

  They change their attitude = Directional goals may bias people's self-conceptions 

• 3.2.3 Biased beliefs about others

• What does directional motivation do to someones beliefs about others?

  People have biased beliefs about others based on outcome dependency.  People expect their own outcomes to depend on others they rely on.

• 3.2.4 Biased beliefs about events

• What does directional motivation do to someones beliefs about events?

  Directional goals bias someones beliefs about the nature cause and likelihood of events.