Mind over bias: how is cognitive control related to politically motivated reasoning?

Borghi, Olaf, Tappin, Ben M. ORCID: 0000-0002-3826-8016, Smets, Kaat and Tsakiris, Manos (2025) Mind over bias: how is cognitive control related to politically motivated reasoning? Cognition. ISSN 0010-0277 (In Press)

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Abstract

People often favour information aligned with their ideological motives. Can our tendency for directional motivated reasoning be overcome with cognitive control? It remains contested whether cognitive control processes, such as cognitive reflection and inhibitory control, are linked to a greater tendency to engage in politically motivated reasoning, as proposed by the “motivated reflection” hypothesis, or can help people overcome it, as suggested by cognitive science research. In this pre-registered study (N = 504 UK participants rating n = 4963 news messages), we first provide evidence for motivated reasoning on multiple political and nonpolitical topics. We then investigated the associations of the two cognitive control variables cognitive reflection and inhibitory control with motivated reasoning. We find that associations between cognitive control processes and motivated reasoning are likely small. On political topics specifically, we find that a negative association with cognitive reflection is more likely than a positive association. This finding is contrary to predictions from the popular motivated reflection hypothesis. Results for inhibitory control are inconclusive. We discuss how these findings relate to interdisciplinary literature from cognitive and political psychology.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	© 2025 The Author(s)
Divisions:	Psychological and Behavioural Science
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology J Political Science
Date Deposited:	12 Nov 2025 10:30
Last Modified:	14 Nov 2025 10:06
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/130131

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