Word.ws English Dictionary

motivated reasoning

motivated reasoning noun: the phenomenon of seeking out rational arguments in favor of a conclusion already reached for non-rational (chiefly emotional) reasons.

Noun

motivated reasoning (plural motivated reasonings)

  1. The phenomenon of seeking out rational arguments in favor of a conclusion already reached for non-rational (chiefly emotional) reasons.
    • Instead of engaging in motivated reasoning, they prefer to see where the evidence leads them.

Forms of motivated reasoning

pluralmotivated reasonings

Questions about motivated reasoning

What does motivated reasoning mean?
Motivated reasoning means the phenomenon of seeking out rational arguments in favor of a conclusion already reached for non-rational (chiefly emotional) reasons.
What part of speech is motivated reasoning?
Motivated reasoning is a noun.
What is the plural of motivated reasoning?
The plural of motivated reasoning is motivated reasonings.

Words near motivated reasoning in the dictionary

  1. motions of no confidence
  2. motionwork
  3. motivatable
  4. motivate
  5. motivated
  6. motivated reasoning
  7. motivated reasonings
  8. motivates
  9. motivating
  10. motivation
  11. motivational

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: motivated reasoning (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “motivated reasoning.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/motivated_reasoning. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.