LancasterOnline: A man with a conviction is a hard man to change. Tell him you disagree, and he turns away. Show him facts or figures, and he questions your sources. Appeal to logic, and he fails to see your point.
So said Stanford University psychologist Leon Festinger in the 1950s.
Pre-existing beliefs can slant our thinking and taint what we believe to be our most impartial and logical conclusions. This is called motivational reasoning. It helps to explain why we find folks so opposed over matters in...