The evidence for motivated reasoning in climate change preference formation

Druckman, James N.; McGrath, Mary C.

doi:10.1038/s41558-018-0360-1

Cited by 733Climate Change Communication and PerceptionClimate Change Policy and EconomicsRisk Perception and Management

The evidence for motivated reasoning in climate change preference formation

Druckman, James N., McGrath, Mary C.·2019·Nature Climate Change

DOI 10.1038/s41558-018-0360-1

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Beliefs About COVID-19 in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States: A Novel Test of Political Polarization and Motivated Reasoning
Pennycook, G., McPhetres, J., Bagó, B., & Rand, D. (2021) · Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin · doi:10.1177/01461672211023652 · Cited by 197 · see citing works
“…not a result of identity-protective cognition per se, but rather differential exposure to different messaging about COVID-19 (for further discussion of the confounded nature of group difference comparisons in the context of partisan bias, see Druckman and McGrath (2019) and Tappin et al. (2020c).”
Background
Partisan Gaps in Political Information and Information-Seeking Behavior: Motivated Reasoning or Cheerleading?
Peterson, E., & Iyengar, S. (2019) · doi:10.31235/osf.io/pmn7h · Cited by 241 · see citing works
Politicization and COVID-19 vaccine resistance in the U.S.
Bolsen, T., & Palm, R. I. (2022) · Progress in molecular biology and translational science · doi:10.1016/bs.pmbts.2021.10.002 · Cited by 241 · see citing works
Believing and sharing misinformation, fact-checks, and accurate information on social media: The role of anxiety during COVID-19
Freiling, I., Krause, N. M., Scheufele, D. A., & Brossard, D. (2021) · New Media & Society · doi:10.1177/14614448211011451 · Cited by 230 · see citing works
“However, another explanation for these same outcomes is that individuals simply possess different beliefs about which sources are accurate (Druckman and McGrath, 2019), since source credibility and trustworthiness are known to influence beliefs (Metzger et al.”
Background
A review of educational responses to the “post-truth” condition: Four lenses on “post-truth” problems
Barzilai, S., & Chinn, C. A. (2020) · Educational Psychologist · doi:10.1080/00461520.2020.1786388 · Cited by 247 · see citing works
Why do people believe health misinformation and who is at risk? A systematic review of individual differences in susceptibility to health misinformation
Nan, X., Wang, Y., & Thier, K. (2022) · Social Science & Medicine · doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2022.115398 · Cited by 221 · see citing works
Misinformation, Disinformation, and Online Propaganda
Guess, A. M., & Lyons, B. A. (2020) · Social Media and Democracy · doi:10.1017/9781108890960.003 · Cited by 284 · see citing works
Politicizing the COVID-19 Pandemic: Ideological Differences in Adherence to Social DistancingPreprint
Rothgerber, H., Wilson, T. L., Whaley, D., Rosenfeld, D. L., Humphrey, M., Moore, A. L., & Bihl, A. M. (2020) · doi:10.31234/osf.io/k23cv · Cited by 182 · see citing works
Thinking clearly about causal inferences of politically motivated reasoning: why paradigmatic study designs often undermine causal inference
Tappin, B. M., Pennycook, G., & Rand, D. G. (2020) · Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.cobeha.2020.01.003 · Cited by 181 · see citing works
The Bias That Divides Us: The Science and Politics of Myside Thinking
Stanovich, K. E. (2021) · doi:10.7551/mitpress/13367.001.0001 · Cited by 152 · see citing works
Understanding the psychological distance of climate change: The limitations of construal level theory and suggestions for alternative theoretical perspectives
Brügger, A. (2019) · Global Environmental Change · doi:10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2019.102023 · Cited by 149 · see citing works
Public acceptability of nudging and taxing to reduce consumption of alcohol, tobacco, and food: A population-based survey experiment
Reynolds, J., Archer, S., Pilling, M., Kenny, M. J., Hollands, G., & Marteau, T. M. (2019) · Social Science & Medicine (1967) · doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.112395 · Cited by 111 · see citing works
“There is a large body of evidence that demonstrates that a proportion of people will not update their beliefs when confronted with evidence and this may be in part explained by motivated reasoning or the confirmation bias (Chan et al., 2017; Druckman and McGrath, 2019; Gilead et al., 2018; Nickerson, 1998; Nyhan and R…”
Background
Influencing climate change attitudes in the United States: A systematic review and meta-analysis
Rode, J. B., Dent, A. L., Benedict, C. N., Brosnahan, D., Martinez, R. L., & Ditto, P. H. (2021) · Journal of Environmental Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jenvp.2021.101623 · Cited by 144 · see citing works
Motivated reasoning and climate change
Bayes, R., & Druckman, J. N. (2021) · Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.cobeha.2021.02.009 · Cited by 135 · see citing works
Self-citation
Bayesian or biased? Analytic thinking and political belief updating
Tappin, B. M., Pennycook, G., & Rand, D. G. (2020) · Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2020.104375 · Cited by 127 · see citing works
Communicating the effectiveness and ineffectiveness of government policies and their impact on public support: a systematic review with meta-analysis
Reynolds, J., Stautz, K., Pilling, M., van der Linden, S., & Marteau, T. (2020) · Royal Society Open Science · doi:10.1098/rsos.190522 · Cited by 109 · see citing works
A Framework for the Study of Persuasion
Druckman, J. N. (2022) · Annual Review of Political Science · doi:10.1146/annurev-polisci-051120-110428 · Cited by 126 · see citing works
Self-citation
Facts and Where to Find Them: Empirical Research on Internet Platforms and Content Moderation
Keller, D., & Leerssen, P. (2020) · Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) · doi:10.1017/9781108890960
Choices for climate action: A review of the multiple roles individuals play
Hampton, S., & Whitmarsh, L. E. (2023) · One Earth · doi:10.1016/j.oneear.2023.08.006 · Cited by 123 · see citing works
When and How Different Motives Can Drive Motivated Political Reasoning
Bayes, R., Druckman, J. N., Goods, A., & Molden, D. C. (2020) · Political Psychology · doi:10.1111/pops.12663 · Cited by 119 · see citing works
“Indeed, Druckman and McGrath (2019) describe the observational equivalence problem in much research on politically motivated reasoning, which occurs when scholars presume directional motivations exist without direct evidence that such a motive played a role among a sample of participants (also see…”
BackgroundSelf-citation
Political populism, responsiveness, and public support for climate mitigation
Huber, R., Fesenfeld, L., & Bernauer, T. (2020) · Climate Policy · doi:10.1080/14693062.2020.1736490 · Cited by 92 · see citing works
“In other words, populism and dispositional blame attribution might function as an amplifier for pre-existing attitudes and foster the rejection of dissonant information (Druckman & McGrath, 2019; Festinger, 1962).”
Background
The Gateway Belief Model (GBM): A review and research agenda for communicating the scientific consensus on climate change
van der Linden, S. (2021) · Current Opinion in Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.copsyc.2021.01.005 · Cited by 124 · see citing works
Elite Cues and the Rapid Decline in Trust in Science Agencies on COVID-19
Hamilton, L. C., & Safford, T. G. (2021) · Sociological Perspectives · doi:10.1177/07311214211022391 · Cited by 121 · see citing works
Online Hate Speech
Siegel, A. A. (2020) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108890960.005 · Cited by 117 · see citing works
What governs attitudes toward artificial intelligence adoption and governance?
O’Shaughnessy, M. R., Schiff, D. S., Varshney, L. R., Rozell, C. J., & Davenport, M. A. (2022) · Science and Public Policy · doi:10.1093/scipol/scac056 · Cited by 142 · see citing works
The development of partisan polarization over the Green New Deal
Gustafson, A., Rosenthal, S. A., Ballew, M. T., Goldberg, M. H., Bergquist, P., Kotcher, J. E., Maibach, E. W., & Leiserowitz, A. (2019) · Nature Climate Change · doi:10.1038/s41558-019-0621-7 · Cited by 113 · see citing works
The Role of Personal Experience and Prior Beliefs in Shaping Climate Change Perceptions: A Narrative Review
Sambrook, K., Konstantinidis, E., Russell, S., & Okan, Y. (2021) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.669911 · Cited by 112 · see citing works
Accuracy and social motivations shape judgements of (mis)information
Rathje, S., Roozenbeek, J., Bavel, J. J. V., & van der Linden, S. (2023) · Nature Human Behaviour · doi:10.1038/s41562-023-01540-w · Cited by 134 · see citing works
“While there have been debates about whether partisan differences in belief reflect differing prior beliefs versus politically-motivated cognition 25,26 , our studies provide causal evidence for the effect of motivation on belief.”
Science beliefs, political ideology, and cognitive sophistication.
Pennycook, G., Bagó, B., & McPhetres, J. (2022) · Journal of Experimental Psychology General · doi:10.1037/xge0001267 · Cited by 109 · see citing works
A Research Agenda for Climate Change Communication and Public Opinion: The Role of Scientific Consensus Messaging and Beyond
Bayes, R., Bolsen, T., & Druckman, J. N. (2020) · Environmental Communication · doi:10.1080/17524032.2020.1805343 · Cited by 113 · see citing works
“Motivation and scientific consensus messaging One must consider the motivation, or goal, of any individual when processing the scientific consensus message to understand how it affects his/her beliefs about climate change (Druckman & McGrath, 2019).”
BackgroundInfluentialSelf-citation
The Impact of Message Source on the Effectiveness of Communications About Climate Change
Bolsen, T., Palm, R. I., & Kingsland, J. T. (2019) · Science Communication · doi:10.1177/1075547019863154 · Cited by 111 · see citing works
“…et al. 479 identity protective forms of motivated reasoning that would otherwise lead to the rejection of arguments related to a polarized and highly salient issue such as climate change (Benegal & Scruggs, 2018; Druckman & McGrath, 2019; Hamilton, 2011; Kahan, 2015; Kahan et al., 2011, 2012).”
Background
The effects of light pollution on migratory animal behavior
Burt, C. S., Kelly, J. F., Trankina, G. E., Silva, C., Khalighifar, A., Jenkins‐Smith, H. C., Fox, A., Fristrup, K. M., & Horton, K. G. (2023) · Trends in Ecology & Evolution · doi:10.1016/j.tree.2022.12.006 · Cited by 106 · see citing works
“However, examples of speci ﬁ c impacts of new technical knowledge on policy learning and changearerare[121],inpartbecausethebeliefsofpolicyactorstendtobeanchoredindeeplyheldvaluesthatareresistant to change [124,125].”
Background
Risk or Efficacy? How Psychological Distance Influences Climate Change Engagement
Chu, H., & Yang, J. Z. (2020) · Risk Analysis · doi:10.1111/risa.13446 · Cited by 105 · see citing works
“…& Liberman, 2010), the highly politicized nature of climate change may determine that people’s perception of temporal and hypothetical distance will be influenced by their value and beliefs (Druckman & McGrath, 2019), which may explain for the lack of significant result on these two dimensions.”
Background
Climate change belief, sustainability education, and political values: Assessing the need for higher-education curriculum reform
Hess, D. J., & Maki, A. (2019) · Journal of Cleaner Production · doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.04.291 · Cited by 103 · see citing works
Exploring how climate change subjective attribution, personal experience with extremes, concern, and subjective knowledge relate to pro-environmental attitudes and behavioral intentions in the United States
Wong‐Parodi, G., & Rubin, N. B. (2021) · Journal of Environmental Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jenvp.2021.101728 · Cited by 102 · see citing works
The nature, significance, and influence of perceived personal experience of climate change
Reser, J., & Bradley, G. L. (2020) · Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews Climate Change · doi:10.1002/wcc.668 · Cited by 103 · see citing works
“…and conceptualized as instances of motivated reasoning/confirmation bias and/or prone to other ‘subjective’ limitations and heuristic biases (e.g., Demski et al., 2017; Druckman & McGrath, 2019; Kunda, 1990; Lujala & Lein, 2020; Myers et al., 2013; Reser et al., 2014; van der Linden, 2014).”
Background
Predicting Public Trust in Science: The Role of Basic Orientations Toward Science, Perceived Trustworthiness of Scientists, and Experiences With Science
Wintterlin, F., Hendriks, F., Mede, N. G., Bromme, R., Metag, J., & Schäfer, M. S. (2022) · Frontiers in Communication · doi:10.3389/fcomm.2021.822757 · Cited by 99 · see citing works
Beliefs about COVID-19 in Canada, the U.K., and the U.S.A.: A novel test of political polarization and motivated reasoningPreprint
Pennycook, G., McPhetres, J., Bagó, B., & Rand, D. (2020) · doi:10.31234/osf.io/zhjkp · Cited by 47 · see citing works
“…is not a result of identity-protective cognition per se, but rather differential exposure to different messaging about COVID-19 (for further discussion of the confounded nature of group difference comparisons in the context of partisan bias, see Druckman & McGrath, 2019; Tappin et al., 2020c).”
Background
Consuming Cross-Cutting Media Causes Learning and Moderates Attitudes: A Field Experiment with Fox News Viewers
Broockman, D., & Kalla, J. (2024) · The Journal of Politics · doi:10.1086/730725 · Cited by 96 · see citing works
COVID-19 pandemic lessons to facilitate future engagement in the global climate crisis
Perkins, K. M., Munguía, N., Ellenbecker, M. J., Moure‐Eraso, R., & Velazquez, L. E. (2020) · Journal of Cleaner Production · doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.125178 · Cited by 92 · see citing works
Sealing the gateways for post-truthism: Reestablishing the epistemic authority of science
Kienhues, D., Jucks, R., & Bromme, R. (2020) · Educational Psychologist · doi:10.1080/00461520.2020.1784012 · Cited by 98 · see citing works
“Druckman and McGrath (2019) underscore that in such cases, because personal goals and values are responsible for calibrating the individual’s standards for assessing the credibility of specific information, they indirectly impact on reasoning about the truth.”
BackgroundInfluential
Personal harm and support for climate change mitigation policies: Evidence from 10 U.S. communities impacted by extreme weather
Zanocco, C. M., Boudet, H. S., Nilson, R., & Flora, J. A. (2019) · Global Environmental Change · doi:10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2019.101984 · Cited by 89 · see citing works
Misperceived Social Norms and Willingness to Act Against Climate Change
Andre, P., Boneva, T., Chopra, F., & Falk, A. (2024) · The Review of Economics and Statistics · doi:10.1162/rest_a_01468 · Cited by 88 · see citing works
The effects of weather experiences on climate change attitudes and behaviors
Sisco, M. R. (2021) · Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability · doi:10.1016/j.cosust.2021.09.001 · Cited by 79 · see citing works
“This phenomenon is often described as motivated reasoning, where past beliefs and motivations to confirm them lead to biased processing of information to uphold those beliefs [64,65].”
Background
Using Social and Behavioural Science to Support COVID-19 Pandemic ResponsePreprint
Bavel, J. J. V., D, K. B. A., Boggio, P. S., Capraro, V., Cichocka, A. K., Cikara, M., Crockett, M. J., Crum, A. J., Douglas, K. M., Druckman, J. N., et al. (2022) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.4178356 · Cited by 86 · see citing works
Self-citation
Disagreeing about how to know: The instructional value of explorations into knowing
Chinn, C. A., Barzilai, S., & Duncan, R. G. (2020) · Educational Psychologist · doi:10.1080/00461520.2020.1786387 · Cited by 80 · see citing works
“Do Your Own Research”
Ballantyne, N., Celniker, J. B., & Dunning, D. A. (2022) · Social Epistemology · doi:10.1080/02691728.2022.2146469 · Cited by 77 · see citing works
Reducing food waste behavior among hospitality employees through communication: dual mediation paths
Tuấn, L. T. (2020) · International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management · doi:10.1108/ijchm-09-2019-0779 · Cited by 80 · see citing works
Learning from the Climate Change Debate to Avoid Polarisation on Negative Emissions
Colvin, R. M., Kemp, L., Talberg, A., de Castella, C., Downie, C., Friel, S., Grant, W. J., Howden, M. S., Jotzo, F., Markham, F., et al. (2019) · Environmental Communication · doi:10.1080/17524032.2019.1630463 · Cited by 75 · see citing works
“They do so by seeking perceived credible sources that may differ from authoritative, scientific knowledge (Druckman & Mcgrath, 2019).”
Background
Understanding the effects of partisan identity on climate change
Doell, K. C., Pärnamets, P., Harris, E., Hackel, L. M., & Bavel, J. J. V. (2021) · Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.cobeha.2021.03.013 · Cited by 72 · see citing works
How Can Psychological Science Help Counter the Spread of Fake News?
van der Linden, S., Roozenbeek, J., Maertens, R., Basol, M., Kácha, O., Rathje, S., & Traberg, C. S. (2021) · The Spanish Journal of Psychology · doi:10.1017/sjp.2021.23 · Cited by 71 · see citing works
“First, it is difficult to disentangle whether partisan bias results frommotivated reasoning or selective exposure to different (factual) beliefs (Druckman & McGrath, 2019; Tappin et al., 2020).”
Background
Biased belief in the Bayesian brain: A deeper look at the evidence
Tappin, B. M., & Gadsby, S. (2019) · Consciousness and Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.concog.2019.01.006 · Cited by 73 · see citing works
Does Climate Protest Work? Partisanship, Protest, and Sentiment Pools
Bugden, D. (2020) · Socius Sociological Research for a Dynamic World · doi:10.1177/2378023120925949 · Cited by 69 · see citing works
“One of the principal effects of the contest between the climate change movement and countermovement has been to polarize public opinion on climate change and climate policy (Dunlap et al. 2016; McCright and Dunlap 2011).”
Background
Towards a Viable Response to COVID-19 from the Science Education Community
Dillon, J. S., & Avraamidou, L. (2020) · Journal for Activist Science and Technology Education · doi:10.33137/jaste.v11i2.34531 · Cited by 69 · see citing works
“Research has shown a link between political convictions and acceptance of climate change science (Motta et al., 2019) but why this is the case is still rather unclear (Druckman & McGrath, 2019).”
Background
The salience of future impacts and the willingness to pay for climate change mitigation: an experiment in intergenerational framing
Shrum, T. (2021) · Climatic Change · doi:10.1007/s10584-021-03002-6 · Cited by 69 · see citing works
“These findings are in line with the framework on accuracy motivated reasoning model developed by Druckman and McGrath (2019).”
Result
Right-wing authoritarianism and social dominance orientation predict rejection of science and scientists
Kerr, J. R., & Wilson, M. S. (2021) · Group Processes & Intergroup Relations · doi:10.1177/1368430221992126 · Cited by 62 · see citing works
“Druckman and McGrath (2019) note substantial “concept creep” regarding the term “motivated reasoning”, such that some researchers label any disagreement with scientific consensus (e.g., climate change denial) as the product of directionally motivated reasoning (that is, reasoning in pursuit of a…”
Background
A framework for understanding reasoning errors: From fake news to climate change and beyond
Pennycook, G. (2022) · Advances in experimental social psychology · doi:10.1016/bs.aesp.2022.11.003 · Cited by 88 · see citing works
Democratic Transparency in the Platform Society
Gorwa, R., & Ash, T. G. (2020) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108890960.013 · Cited by 67 · see citing works
Misremembering Brexit: partisan bias and individual predictors of false memories for fake news stories among Brexit voters
Greene, C. M., Nash, R. A., & Murphy, G. (2021) · Memory · doi:10.1080/09658211.2021.1923754 · Cited by 67 · see citing works
“Don’t Tell Me What to Do”: Resistance to Climate Change Messages Suggesting Behavior Changes
Palm, R. I., Bolsen, T., & Kingsland, J. T. (2020) · Weather Climate and Society · doi:10.1175/wcas-d-19-0141.1 · Cited by 65 · see citing works
“…body of research has been accumulated that shows that exposure to strategic frames and persuasive messages can influence perceptions and willingness to support various actions to address climate change (Bolsen and Shapiro 2017; Druckman and McGrath 2019; Hart and Feldman 2016; van der Linden 2017).”
Background
Populist Syndrome and Nonmarket Strategy
Blake, D., Markus, S., & Martinez‐Suarez, J. (2022) · Journal of Management Studies · doi:10.1111/joms.12859 · Cited by 66 · see citing works
Misinformation and Its Correction
Wittenberg, C., & Berinsky, A. J. (2020) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108890960.009 · Cited by 63 · see citing works
Natural disasters and climate change beliefs: The role of distance and prior beliefs
Osberghaus, D., & Fugger, C. (2022) · Global Environmental Change · doi:10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2022.102515 · Cited by 64 · see citing works
Polarisation of Climate and Environmental Attitudes in the United States, 1973-2022
Smith, E. K., Bognar, M. J., & Mayer, A. (2024) · npj Climate Action · doi:10.1038/s44168-023-00074-1 · Cited by 64 · see citing works
“Climate change scienti ﬁ c knowledge transfer activities are more likely to in ﬂ uence Democratic voters, either via processes of Bayesian updating 64 or motivated reasoning 65,66 .”
Policy framing, design and feedback can increase public support for costly food waste regulation
Fesenfeld, L., Rudolph, L., & Bernauer, T. (2022) · Nature Food · doi:10.1038/s43016-022-00460-8 · Cited by 64 · see citing works
Updating the identity-based model of belief: From false belief to the spread of misinformation
Bavel, J. J. V., Rathje, S., Vlasceanu, M., & Pretus, C. (2024) · Current Opinion in Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.copsyc.2023.101787 · Cited by 69 · see citing works
“While partisan differences in belief are often attributed to motivated reasoning, these differences may arise because people are exposed to different information sources [27,28].”
Exploring the roles of analytic cognitive style, climate science literacy, illusion of knowledge, and political orientation in climate change skepticism
Trémolière, B., & Djeriouat, H. (2021) · Journal of Environmental Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jenvp.2021.101561 · Cited by 61 · see citing works
Moderating with the Mob: Evaluating the Efficacy of Real-Time Crowdsourced Fact-Checking
Godel, W., Sanderson, Z., Aslett, K., Nagler, J., Bonneau, R., Persily, N., & Tucker, J. A. (2021) · Journal of Online Trust and Safety · doi:10.54501/jots.v1i1.15 · Cited by 61 · see citing works
“There is robust evidence of partisan-motivated reasoning as individuals seek out information that confirms their partisan identity (Van Bavel and Pereira 2018; Bolsen, Druckman, and Cook 2014; Druckman and McGrath 2019).”
Background
Social Psychological Perspectives on Political Polarization: Insights and Implications for Climate Change
Cole, J. C., Gillis, A. J., van der Linden, S., Cohen, M. A., & Vandenbergh, M. P. (2025) · Perspectives on Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/17456916231186409 · Cited by 61 · see citing works
“Liberals believe in climate change (Doell et al., 2021; Kahan, 2012; Van Boven et al., 2018), believe climate change is anthropogenic (Druckman & McGrath, 2019), are concerned about climate change (van der Linden, 2017), and support climate change mitigation more than conservatives do (E. Campbell…”
Polarization of climate politics results from partisan sorting: Evidence from Finnish Twittersphere
Chen, T. H. Y., Salloum, A., Gronow, A., Ylä‐Anttila, T., & Kivelä, M. (2021) · Global Environmental Change · doi:10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2021.102348 · Cited by 65 · see citing works
The social responsibility of organizations: Perceptions of organizational morality as a key mechanism explaining the relation between CSR activities and stakeholder support
Ellemers, N., & Chopova, T. (2021) · Research in Organizational Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.riob.2022.100156 · Cited by 63 · see citing works
Anger consensus messaging can enhance expectations for collective action and support for climate mitigation
Sabherwal, A. C., Pearson, A. R., & Sparkman, G. (2021) · Journal of Environmental Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jenvp.2021.101640 · Cited by 59 · see citing works
The role and limits of strategic framing for promoting sustainable consumption and policy
Fesenfeld, L., Sun, Y., Wicki, M., & Bernauer, T. (2021) · Global Environmental Change · doi:10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2021.102266 · Cited by 56 · see citing works
“116 However, Druckman and McGrath (2019) have recently challenged the model of directional-117 motivated reasoning, arguing that existing evidence is also in line with an accuracy-motivated 118 model in which individuals seek to assess the credibility of messages.”
Influential
How Solutions Journalism Shapes Support for Collective Climate Change Adaptation
Thier, K., & Lin, T. (2022) · Environmental Communication · doi:10.1080/17524032.2022.2143842 · Cited by 60 · see citing works
Fighting Climate Change: The Role of Norms, Preferences, and Moral ValuesPreprint
Andre, P., Boneva, T., Chopra, F., & Falk, A. (2021) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.3879366 · Cited by 57 · see citing works
Attentional and perceptual biases of climate change
Luo, Y., & Zhao, J. (2021) · Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.cobeha.2021.02.010 · Cited by 57 · see citing works
The relationship between political affiliation and beliefs about sources of “fake news”
Michael, R. B., & Breaux, B. O. (2021) · Cognitive Research Principles and Implications · doi:10.1186/s41235-021-00278-1 · Cited by 54 · see citing works
Public opinion on climate change: Belief and concern, issue salience and support for government action
Crawley, S., Coffé, H., & Chapman, R. (2019) · The British Journal of Politics and International Relations · doi:10.1177/1369148119888827 · Cited by 54 · see citing works
“Political orientation may be connected to climate change views through motivated reasoning, where individuals evaluate information about a topic based on their existing ideological precepts, rather than on its objective truth (Kahan, 2015, 2016) Alternatively, people may simply dismiss information sources as not credi…”
Background
How to study democratic backsliding
Druckman, J. N. (2024) · Political Psychology · doi:10.1111/pops.12942 · Cited by 56 · see citing works
Self-citation
What do you think about climate change?
Baiardi, D. (2022) · Journal of Economic Surveys · doi:10.1111/joes.12535 · Cited by 53 · see citing works
That's interesting! The role of epistemic emotions and perceived credibility in the relation between prior beliefs and susceptibility to fake-news
Rijo, A., & Waldzus, S. (2022) · Computers in Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.chb.2022.107619 · Cited by 50 · see citing works
Democracy and the Epistemic Problems of Political Polarization
Benson, J. (2023) · American Political Science Review · doi:10.1017/s0003055423001089 · Cited by 58 · see citing works
Do Climate Change Regulatory Pressures Increase Corporate Environmental Sustainability Performance? The Moderating Roles of Foreign Market Exposure and Industry Carbon Intensity
Shui, X., Zhang, M., Wang, Y., & Smart, P. (2024) · British Journal of Management · doi:10.1111/1467-8551.12841 · Cited by 51 · see citing works
Political Deepfakes Are as Credible as Other Fake Media and (Sometimes) Real Media
Barari, S., Lucas, C., & Munger, K. (2024) · The Journal of Politics · doi:10.1086/732990 · Cited by 51 · see citing works
The Legitimacy of Science
Gauchat, G. (2023) · Annual Review of Sociology · doi:10.1146/annurev-soc-030320-035037 · Cited by 50 · see citing works
Tracing the Boundaries of Motivated Reasoning: How Deliberative Minipublics Can Improve Voter Knowledge
Ársælsson, K. M., & Gastil, J. (2019) · Political Psychology · doi:10.1111/pops.12591 · Cited by 50 · see citing works
“Third, expressive partisan-identity theory (Huddy, Mason, & Aarøe, 2015) or "identity-protective cognition" (Druckman & McGrath, 2019; also see Kahan, 2016; Slothuus & de Vreese, 2010) predicts that information congruent with one’s partisan identity will yield a strong affirmation effect, as will…”
Background
Wither Elites? The Role of Elite Credibility and Knowledge in Public Perceptions of Foreign Policy
Lupton, D. L., & Webb, C. M. (2022) · International Studies Quarterly · doi:10.1093/isq/sqac057 · Cited by 49 · see citing works

Authors: Druckman, J. N., & McGrath, M. C.
Affiliations: Northwestern University (US)
Corresponding author: Druckman, James N.
ORCID: Druckman, James N.
McGrath, Mary C.
Venue: Nature Climate Change
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published: 2019-01-21
Volume: 9
Issue: 2
Pages: 111-119
ISSN: 1758-678X (ISSN-L)
1758-6798
DOI: 10.1038/s41558-018-0360-1
OpenAlex: W2902092972
Cited by: 733
References: 98
Citations by year: 2026: 105 · 2025: 100 · 2024: 105 · 2023: 102 · 2022: 101 · 2021: 103 · 2020: 92 · 2019: 21 · 2018: 1 · 2013: 2
FWCI: 159.48
Type: journal article
Language: en
Open access: closed
Licence: www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
Locations: Nature Climate Change (publishedVersion)
RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
Topics: Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Climate Change Communication and Perception
Social Sciences › Economics, Econometrics and Finance › Economics and Econometrics › Climate Change Policy and Economics
Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Risk Perception and Management
Keywords: motivated reasoning, climate change beliefs, belief updating, Bayesian updating, information credibility, partisanship, belief accuracy, science communication

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The evidence for motivated reasoning in climate change preference formation

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