The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe: How to Know What's Really Real in a World Increasingly Full of Fake

by Steven Novella

Motivated reasoning is triggered by what psychologists call cognitive dissonance. Cognitive dissonance theory was first proposed by Leon Festinger in 1957. He suggested that psychological discomfort results when we are presented with two pieces of information that conflict with each other. We hold a belief, and now we have information that contradicts that belief. Ideally, we would resolve the conflict rationally and objectively, changing the belief as necessary, depending on the nature and validity of the new information. When the belief is strongly and emotionally held, however, it becomes too difficult to change. If the belief is at the core of our worldview, then changing it might cause a chain reaction, magnifying cognitive dissonance.