Most people are not persuaded by rational arguments due to motivated reasoning and cognitive biases
Extensive psychological and cognitive research demonstrates that human judgment is frequently driven by motivated reasoning, cognitive biases, and identity protection rather than purely rational evaluation of arguments.
The retrieved papers consistently show that human reasoning is heavily modulated by cognitive biases, identity protection, moral conviction, and motivated reasoning, making people resistant to purely rational or objective counterarguments. There are no papers refuting this claim.
Decety J, Cohen MS, Cao Q. The Dark Side of Moral Conviction-Integrating Political Psychology, Cognitive Science, and Neuroscience.. 2025. https://doi.org/10.1111/nyas.70109
Moral conviction fosters dogmatism and prevents objective evaluation of evidence.
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Hong Z. When Rituals Fail: Rationalization, Bayesianism, and Predictive Processing.. 2025. https://doi.org/10.1002/evan.70020
Bayesian-rational processes and auxiliary hypotheses shield central beliefs from disconfirming evidence.
He S, Fan Y. Emotion as a cross-layer mechanism in filter bubbles: a social-psychological perspective.. 2025. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1740709
Motivated cognitive processing and emotional cues drive information filtering rather than objective reasoning.
Alabri A. Susceptibility to digital health misinformation: a multi-level narrative review.. 2026. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2026.1801278
Identity-driven reasoning and reduced cognitive reflection increase susceptibility to misinformation.
Double KS, Pinkus RT, Landfear R, Carnegie P, Dowell S, Goldwater MB. Rating our certainty: how confidence judgments amplify belief polarization.. 2026. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-026-02239-z
Confidence judgments and selective rationalization exacerbate extreme subjective beliefs instead of promoting open-minded evaluation.
Li J, Xu Z. Cognitive-Affective Dynamics of Political Attitude Polarization: EEG-Based Behavioral Evidence from a COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate Task.. 2025. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs15081043
Identity-driven cognitive-affective dynamics influence policy evaluations and lead to polarization.
Lu W, Chen DL. Motivated reasoning in the field: polarization of prose, precedent, and policy in U.S. Circuit Courts, 1891-2013.. 2025. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0318790
Judges exhibit motivated reasoning and partisan slant in their professional legal opinions.
Kunst JR, Obaidi M, Gollwitzer A, Brandtzæg PB, Hinrichs Y, Saini N, Schroeder DT. Intelligent Systems, Vulnerable Minds: A Framework for Radicalization to Violence in the Age of AI.. 2026. https://doi.org/10.1177/10888683261430089
Filter bubbles and cognitive biases leverage human vulnerabilities to strengthen extreme beliefs and insulate users from alternative views.
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