@article{204431,
  author = {Corey Cusimano and Tania Lombrozo},
  title = {People recognize and condone their own morally motivated reasoning},
  abstract = {<p>People often engage in biased reasoning, favoring some beliefs over others even when the result is a departure from impartial or evidence-based reasoning. Psychologists have long assumed that people are unaware of these biases and operate under an\&nbsp;{\textquotedblleft}illusion of objectivity.{\textquotedblright}\&nbsp;We identify an important domain of life in which people harbor little illusion about their biases\&nbsp;{\textendash}\&nbsp;when they are biased for moral reasons. For instance, people endorse and feel justified believing morally desirable propositions even when they think they lack evidence for them (Study 1a/1b). Moreover, when people engage in morally desirable motivated reasoning, they recognize the influence of moral biases on their judgment, but nevertheless evaluate their reasoning as ideal (Studies 2{\textendash}4). These findings overturn longstanding assumptions about motivated reasoning and identify a boundary condition on Naïve Realism and the Bias Blind Spot. People{\textquoteright}s tendency to be aware and proud of their biases provides both new opportunities, and new challenges, for resolving ideological conflict and improving reasoning.</p>
},
  year = {2023},
  journal = {Cognition},
  volume = {234},
  pages = {105379},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2023.105379},
}