You are here: Home » Archives for motivated reasoning

The Rewards of Self-Deception, and why it is the Satanic Path

Written by on

Self-fallacy, self-fallere (fallere = Latin for “to deceive”), aka self-deception, is a real problem for humanity. Rationalization, which is reasoning from a desired conclusion rather than reasoning from a solid premise, is called in the cognitive sciences emotionally motivated reasoning. Think of rationalization as the inversion of reason, where all inversion is “metaphorically “Satanic”, and it leads to Machiavellian thinking and behaviors, where the ends justify the means. Motivated reasoning […] Read more »

The Core of Argumentativeness: Confirmation Bias and Motivated Reasoning

Written by on · Leave a Comment

It has become painfully obvious to me that many people are unable to get past their confirmation bias and motivated reasoning enough on emotionally charged topics to actually read and comprehend what has been presented by fair minded thinkers. They will bypass around fair minded information, even if it clearly addresses their concerns, because they perceive that it conflicts with their biases — and skip straight to arguing against points that […] Read more »

Critical Thinking in Every Domain of Knowledge and Belief

Written by on · Leave a Comment

This is why it is very difficult to go into an open-minded discussion with some individuals, because many people have emotional attachments underlying their beliefs, and this causes them to be intellectually dishonest in the discussion. Unlike us, they do not want to know the truth, but they just want to prove their point, as it soothes their underlying emotional needs that they are attempting to meet by converting, dehumanizing, […] Read more »