Psychologist Leon Festinger observed in 1956 that people are more likely to arrive at conclusions that they want to reach. This might sound obvious, but the lengths our brains will go to believe those conclusions are vast. When we want to believe something, we search for supporting evidence, and if we find even a single piece of pseudo-evidence, then we give ourselves permission to believe — a justification that lets us allow ourselves to stop thinking. This emotion-biased decisionmaking phenomenon is called “motivated reasoning,” and it’s based on the idea that emotions and motives trump facts and evidence.   […]

Source: Motivated Reasoning Is Why You Can’t Win an Argument …