Heart over mind: unravelling motivated reasoning in an unprecedented socio-political context

Motivated reasoning, by which individuals evaluate information in a biased way to support desired conclusions, is a widespread phenomenon and has primarily been investigated in relation to ideological beliefs. However, the socio-psychological factors influencing opinion change during motivated reaso...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Trucharte Martínez, Almudena, Valiente Ots, M. Carmen, Vázquez Valverde, Carmelo José, Martínez, Antón P., Contreras, Alba, Peinado Tena, Vanesa, Espinosa, Regina, Bentall, Richard P.
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2025
País:España
Institución:Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM)
Repositorio:Docta Complutense
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:docta.ucm.es:20.500.14352/126485
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/126485
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Motivated reasoning
Attitudinal change
Perceived economic threat
Political orientation
Ciencias Sociales
61 Psicología
id ES_ef24e4a4c6269800a4d8170cd4793091
oai_identifier_str oai:docta.ucm.es:20.500.14352/126485
network_acronym_str ES
network_name_str España
repository_id_str
spelling Heart over mind: unravelling motivated reasoning in an unprecedented socio-political contextTrucharte Martínez, AlmudenaValiente Ots, M. CarmenVázquez Valverde, Carmelo JoséMartínez, Antón P.Contreras, AlbaPeinado Tena, VanesaEspinosa, ReginaBentall, Richard P.Motivated reasoningAttitudinal changePerceived economic threatPolitical orientationCiencias Sociales61 PsicologíaMotivated reasoning, by which individuals evaluate information in a biased way to support desired conclusions, is a widespread phenomenon and has primarily been investigated in relation to ideological beliefs. However, the socio-psychological factors influencing opinion change during motivated reasoning tasks have received less attention. We explored motivated reasoning about policies in Spain, focusing on the socio-political climate shaped by the COVID-19 pandemic, recruiting a nationally representative sample of 1,329 participants. We used psychometric instruments to assess psychological and social predictors and evaluated motivated reasoning using an online experimental task in which participants were shown statements by politicians that were inconsistent with their ideologies, followed by exculpatory information explaining the inconsistencies. Right-wing and left-wing participants exhibited motivated reasoning in their evaluation of the statements. However, attitudinal change following exculpatory information varied according to participants’ political orientation and psychological traits, with left-wing participants showing greater flexibility. Perceived economic threat and authoritarianism were associated with lower attitudinal change, and so less flexibility in response to right-wing statements, while reflective thinking predicted greater change. Less attitudinal change in response to left-wing statements was associated with right-wing orientation, perceived economic threat, and conspiracy mentality, with political orientation emerging as the strongest predictor. Our findings underscore the importance of considering ideological, emotional, and cognitive aspects in public information campaigns designed to reduce polarization and promote openness to new information during crises.Springer. Society for the Science of MotivationUniversidad Complutense de Madrid20252025-10-3120252025-10-31journal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501VoRhttp://purl.org/coar/version/c_970fb48d4fbd8a85info:eu-repo/semantics/articleapplication/pdfhttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/126485reponame:Docta Complutenseinstname:Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM)InglésengAgencia Estatal de Investigación http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100011033 Plan Estatal de Investigación Científica y Técnica y de Innovación 2017-2020 PID2019-108711GB-I00 MECANISMOS PSICOLOGICOS DE INTERVENCIONES ESTANDARIZADAS BASADAS EN MINDFULNESS: UN APROXIMACION INTEGRAL PSICONECTOMICA BASADA EN ANALISIS DE REDESopen accesshttp://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2Attribution 4.0 Internationalhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:docta.ucm.es:20.500.14352/1264852026-06-02T12:44:21Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Heart over mind: unravelling motivated reasoning in an unprecedented socio-political context
title Heart over mind: unravelling motivated reasoning in an unprecedented socio-political context
spellingShingle Heart over mind: unravelling motivated reasoning in an unprecedented socio-political context
Trucharte Martínez, Almudena
Motivated reasoning
Attitudinal change
Perceived economic threat
Political orientation
Ciencias Sociales
61 Psicología
title_short Heart over mind: unravelling motivated reasoning in an unprecedented socio-political context
title_full Heart over mind: unravelling motivated reasoning in an unprecedented socio-political context
title_fullStr Heart over mind: unravelling motivated reasoning in an unprecedented socio-political context
title_full_unstemmed Heart over mind: unravelling motivated reasoning in an unprecedented socio-political context
title_sort Heart over mind: unravelling motivated reasoning in an unprecedented socio-political context
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Trucharte Martínez, Almudena
Valiente Ots, M. Carmen
Vázquez Valverde, Carmelo José
Martínez, Antón P.
Contreras, Alba
Peinado Tena, Vanesa
Espinosa, Regina
Bentall, Richard P.
author Trucharte Martínez, Almudena
author_facet Trucharte Martínez, Almudena
Valiente Ots, M. Carmen
Vázquez Valverde, Carmelo José
Martínez, Antón P.
Contreras, Alba
Peinado Tena, Vanesa
Espinosa, Regina
Bentall, Richard P.
author_role author
author2 Valiente Ots, M. Carmen
Vázquez Valverde, Carmelo José
Martínez, Antón P.
Contreras, Alba
Peinado Tena, Vanesa
Espinosa, Regina
Bentall, Richard P.
author2_role author
author
author
author
author
author
author
dc.contributor.none.fl_str_mv Universidad Complutense de Madrid
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Motivated reasoning
Attitudinal change
Perceived economic threat
Political orientation
Ciencias Sociales
61 Psicología
topic Motivated reasoning
Attitudinal change
Perceived economic threat
Political orientation
Ciencias Sociales
61 Psicología
description Motivated reasoning, by which individuals evaluate information in a biased way to support desired conclusions, is a widespread phenomenon and has primarily been investigated in relation to ideological beliefs. However, the socio-psychological factors influencing opinion change during motivated reasoning tasks have received less attention. We explored motivated reasoning about policies in Spain, focusing on the socio-political climate shaped by the COVID-19 pandemic, recruiting a nationally representative sample of 1,329 participants. We used psychometric instruments to assess psychological and social predictors and evaluated motivated reasoning using an online experimental task in which participants were shown statements by politicians that were inconsistent with their ideologies, followed by exculpatory information explaining the inconsistencies. Right-wing and left-wing participants exhibited motivated reasoning in their evaluation of the statements. However, attitudinal change following exculpatory information varied according to participants’ political orientation and psychological traits, with left-wing participants showing greater flexibility. Perceived economic threat and authoritarianism were associated with lower attitudinal change, and so less flexibility in response to right-wing statements, while reflective thinking predicted greater change. Less attitudinal change in response to left-wing statements was associated with right-wing orientation, perceived economic threat, and conspiracy mentality, with political orientation emerging as the strongest predictor. Our findings underscore the importance of considering ideological, emotional, and cognitive aspects in public information campaigns designed to reduce polarization and promote openness to new information during crises.
publishDate 2025
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2025
2025-10-31
2025
2025-10-31
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv journal article
http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501
VoR
http://purl.org/coar/version/c_970fb48d4fbd8a85
dc.type.openaire.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
format article
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/126485
url https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/126485
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
eng
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
language eng
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv Agencia Estatal de Investigación http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100011033 Plan Estatal de Investigación Científica y Técnica y de Innovación 2017-2020 PID2019-108711GB-I00 MECANISMOS PSICOLOGICOS DE INTERVENCIONES ESTANDARIZADAS BASADAS EN MINDFULNESS: UN APROXIMACION INTEGRAL PSICONECTOMICA BASADA EN ANALISIS DE REDES
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv open access
http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2
Attribution 4.0 International
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
dc.rights.openaire.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv open access
http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2
Attribution 4.0 International
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Springer. Society for the Science of Motivation
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Springer. Society for the Science of Motivation
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:Docta Complutense
instname:Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM)
instname_str Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM)
reponame_str Docta Complutense
collection Docta Complutense
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
_version_ 1869423835727527936
score 15.811543

Similares en LA Referencia