We may use reason to detect lying in others, to resolve disputes, to attempt to influence other people or to explain our actions in retrospect, but it seems not to play the decisive role in individual decision-making. In my view, this theory has much to commend it. For one thing, it explains why individuals use reason so sparingly, selectively and above all self-servingly. It explains why we are good at contriving reasons for positions we already hold, or for decisions we have already made. And it explains confirmation bias, which leads people to seek out and absorb only that information which
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