The Irrational Ape: Why Flawed Logic Puts us all at Risk and How Critical Thinking Can Save the World

by David Robert Grimes

It bears the hallmarks of an all-too-human psychological error known as motivated reasoning, where – instead of evidence being evaluated critically – it is deliberately interpreted in such a way as to reaffirm a pre-existing belief. It is an emotionally driven, and inherently biased, form of decision-making. It demands impossibly stringent standards for any evidence contrary to one’s beliefs, while accepting uncritically even the flimsiest evidence for any ideas that suit one’s needs. Rather than rationally evaluate evidence that might confirm or deny a belief, motivated reasoning uses our biases to look only at evidence that fits what we already believe and to dismiss that which unsettles us.